Chest Pains
by HM Grayson
Summary: If his dad could do it, Levi Black thought, being a werewolf Alpha couldn't be that hard. Right? JxL. NextGenFic.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is a direct sequel to _Growing Pains,_ which was the sequel of a sequel, sort of. But this first chapter should help catch everyone up with the characters in this story. I hope.

I thought about not even posting this story because I know the updates are going to be a lot slower than I would like. But the other story didn't end properly so...I'll get there eventually. I just have to ask for your patience on this one.

* * *

><p>Turning eighteen wasn't really a big deal for me. I could vote, sure, but I knew I'd probably just end up forgetting to show up when I was supposed to. I could enlist, I guess, but I had sort of already been drafted.<p>

There were a lot of cool things about being a werewolf (the muscles, the speed, the claws) but it really did suck the fun out of being eighteen.

Or maybe that was just my grandmother.

"What's wrong with my mother?" On good days my mother was scary. On days when I insulted the woman who gave birth to her she was terrifying.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I just...I was hoping to do something a little more fun than visit her. That's all."

"You don't like sitting around while Sue calls you a failure?" Dad asked. We shared a small grin of solidarity.

"She does not," Mom said. "Not unless you're acting stupid."

Which was probably fair, but it was my birthday and I didn't want to be fair.

"Maybe she'll have made you a birthday cake," my little sister said.

We weren't sure where Judy got the optimism from. I said she was a changeling; Dinah said she was just adopted. She couldn't be related to the rest of us. The thought of cake had her smiling like a loon (well, we were all looking forward to the food, but we tried to downplay the way the thought of food made us forget everything else existed).

"The faster we go the faster we can leave," my big sister reminded me. Dinah was the pragmatist.

"You're going to leave?" Mom complained.

I was quick to defend my poor sibling. "Of course not. Though I did promise Will—"

"Your cousin can wait."

"If you have plans already..." Dad began but shut up when my mother glared. My father was the Alpha wolf, the leader of the La Push pack, head of a group of dangerous vampire-killing machines. My mother always got her way. "...we're going to head out now. And you will have a good time."

"I hope Charlie comes home in time," Judy said (cheerfully, of course; if Judy was talking, it was cheerfully). "Last time he let me play with his gun."

"WHAT?"

* * *

><p>Since we were werewolves, Judy and I were indestructible. Mom didn't see it that way; she said we could leave as soon as dinner was finished. She wanted to have a conversation with Charlie Swan.<p>

Grandma did make me cake for my birthday, so I was a bit sorry to leave. A bit. Not really. I had places to go. Sure, I had to pile into a car with my sisters (why did Dinah get to drive? But even though it was my birthday she didn't let me take the wheel) but I still planned to have a good time.

There was a time (a time not that long ago, actually, before I became a superfreak) when spending time with my family would have been my idea of hell. I adored the girls, don't get me wrong, even if I hated the way I always gave in when they pouted. I just hated spending time with them. Now...now we were sort of stuck together. And to my surprise, it was pretty awesome.

Even if Dinah had crappy taste in music.

"I drive, I get to pick the music," she informed me when I tried to change the radio.

"It's my birthday."

"Last week. All birthday privileges are already null and void."

We had delayed my birthday by a week because Judy had been stuck as a four-legged mythical creature last week and we didn't want her to miss out. Still, I needed a better older sister.

"That's a stupid rule."

"Just be happy that I'm going to get you there alive."

"Tomorrow, but alive."

"I'm going the speed limit."

"I could get out and run faster than this."

"So could I," Judy chirped from the back. "Di timed me and everything. Tell him how fast I can go now."

Since she had just phased a little over a week ago, Judy was still excited about the whole thing. She should be; she was damn good at being a werewolf (the fact she could control her temper was a big advantage over most of the rest of us). Plus, she hadn't gotten her ass kicked by our mother yet. It was hard to get too excited about running quickly when your ancient mother could go twice as fast.

I let Jubes brag though. It was good to get the werewolf attitude down while she could.

* * *

><p>"What do you know?" Dinah asked as we parked by the beach. "It's today and we're here <em>and <em>we're alive."

"You must have superpowers, Di."

Then I hopped out of the car and headed down to the beach, towards the too-familiar figure sitting on the rocks. Will was both the bane of my existence and my other half (in a totally not-gay way). It was good to see him again. He must have agreed because he actually stood up to say hello.

Today was a good day. The smile seemed genuine. Ever since his imprint (his girlfriend, his soul mate, the reason for his pathetic excuse for an existence) died only a few months ago, most of the time watching him pretend to smile was just painful.

I hated seeing him miserable like that (though my whole life he had been miserable, just in different ways that we had learned to handle), but there was nothing I could do. He couldn't not think about Marlena Call, even if thinking about her reminded him how he missed her terribly. At least he was taking losing his imprint better than Sam Uley had.

"Took you long enough." Will laughed. "Sue get on your case again?"

"You're lucky you're not related to her. She'd have scared you straight a long time ago."

"Don't I know it."

"Where are the others?"

He gestured to the water—I guess it wasn't as cold as it looked. Will's younger brother was playing with the Uleys, all billion of them. It was helpful to think of the six Uley siblings as two groups, the boys and the twins. The boys were a mess of adolescent hormones and teenage angst and werewolf violence (even if they were mostly not werewolves; only the oldest of the horde, Baxter, had phased and we wanted to keep it that way). The twins were Brian and Francine, the oldest of them all.

Brian was also a member of our pack, the one of us who could keep a cool head no matter what. Brian was so mellow he managed to date my sister—and he was so in love with her I had to let him. Plus, Dinah never would have listened to me anyway.

His sister was my imprint.

But enough about Francine.

Judy and Dinah raced past us to greet the people in the water. Dinah had to do things with Brian that I hated thinking about and Judy had to say hello to the boys.

And if she asked about Bertie (who was going to come by later that night), I pretended not to hear. I didn't want to have to kill anyone on my birthday.

That wasn't to say Bertrand Call wasn't a good kid. I liked him just fine, even if he was a little too quiet to be a werewolf. He was the most recent member of our pack (he had just learned to phase back a few days ago) and he had just lost his big sister, so I should have been protective of the guy. But my little sister had an enormous crush on him and even though he could read her mind now all he had done was mutter something about them being better off as friends.

How could he not be into her?

I couldn't even yell at him. Yelling was Will's job and since Bertie was the closest he was going to get to Marlena any more, Will would do anything for the kid. That included protecting him from me.

"This everyone?" I asked.

"Only people I invited." Will shrugged. Before we phased we had more friends than this group of relatives suggested. But they hadn't exactly been nice friends; Will kept in touch just in case one day he decided we needed the money that came from doing things that were only quasi-legal. I stopped talking to them.

That didn't mean Will hadn't forgotten someone.

"You didn't invite—"

"Relax, Levi. I didn't invite her because she doesn't talk to me. I told Di to do it, though. She'll show up."

"She doesn't talk to you because—"

"She's chicken?"

"Don't call my girlfriend chicken."

"She still hasn't a spoken a word to me."

My girlfriend wasn't a coward; Will was just scary when you didn't know him very well (and sometimes when you did). Add that to the fact he was very open about how much he didn't like her and that she had once seen him lose control in a way that she thought could have killed me and it was no wonder she was a little bit afraid of talking in front of him (his girlfriend had just died so I had to cut him some slack but one day I was going to get tired of making excuses for him. Maybe).

"Who'd want to have a conversation with you?"

"Only rejects like you."

"Hey Levi!" Brian was coming out of the water, smiling like the fool he was when Dinah was around. "Happy birthday."

His sister echoed the greeting as she got out of the water.

Damn.

Francine Uley had always been beautiful but she was something else when she was all wet. Her jean shorts showed off just how long her legs were (best body part on the rez, her legs were) and her t-shirt clung to her chest. It wasn't my fault I couldn't stop staring. She was tossing her long, dark hair behind her as she came towards us, tiny water droplets clinging to her perfect face.

She had been off at school for the past year; I was still getting used to having her around.

"Thanks," I muttered as I was surrounded by the mess of Uley boys. It was impossible to greet them all separately, so I just thanked them as a group and gave them a single cuff to send them on their way.

"Anyone up for volleyball?" Francy asked. "Brian's got the net in the car."

"It's Levi's birthday," Dinah said. "He should set up the net."

"Funny, sis."

The perk of being the head of the younger generation of werewolves was that I was an excellent delegator. Judy and Baxter were the youngest, newest members of the pack; it was almost like volunteering.

"You going to come in?" Brian asked those of us who were dry. "It's nice, today."

Then he wrapped his arms around Di, who shrieked. Not that she minded; it was sickening. I wouldn't have had it any other way.

"You up for a race?" Will asked as he shrugged off his shirt. Brian may have been pussy whipped, but he was also a werewolf. He had already taken off.

"Boys," Dinah rolled her eyes and took Francy's arm. "You coming, Levi?"

I hesitated; Francy figured me out. She hadn't been home for a year, I had imprinted on her two weeks ago and already she knew me too well.

"I think he's waiting for a girl."

"Aww..." Dinah teased as they headed into the water, splashing and giggling like they were five and not almost twenty.

What did I care? Kara finally showed up just then so I headed up the beach to meet her.

Kara was adorable, even if she was far too short to be hanging out with a giant like me. It meant I had to pick her up when we got close. She would be tired from walking over from her work. I wasn't going to complain about getting to hold my girlfriend.

"Happy birthday," she said as she leaned her head on my shoulder.

"You just get off work?"

"Yeah. Sorry I'm late."

"I'm glad you came. We're going to play volleyball after."

"Sports? Tall people sports?"

"Well, you might be a little short to spike, but it's not like any of us are competitive."

Talking to Kara was just...nice. Fun. There was no stress or worrying about trying to impress. We just got to talk. We were still just teasing each other when the others finally got tired of the water.

"You two playing or not?" Baxter called over to us.

Kara was shaking her head, but I volunteered us both. Then Dinah made the teams because we didn't want people arguing.

Hey, as long as it worked.

* * *

><p>When it got dark we built a bonfire, something huge that everyone could see for miles. Kara snuggled against my chest and Will and his brother tossed marshmallows into the flames as Dinah and Brian failed to hide the way they were feeding each other. After she had finished supervising her younger brothers' marshmallow roasting activities, Francy sat down beside me, now dressed in a sweater. I tried not to be disappointed.<p>

"When are you going to come back again?" Kara asked. They were trying to be friends even though Francy made her nervous. It wasn't just that Francy was my imprint and I had once told Kara it was a soul mate thing. When I explained it didn't have to be, I think she got it. But I think Francy would have made her nervous anyway. Hell, Dinah made Kara nervous and there was no way she was jealous of my sister. I hoped not; that would just be weird. Dinah and I weren't even that close.

"Probably not until Christmas. I think. Maybe for Thanksgiving."

"Unless one of her brothers gets sick again," I said.

Dinah didn't appreciate the reminder of how she had finally gotten her best friend to come back to the rez, if the way she tossed her crackers at me was any indication. Too bad. It was funny, Francy had gotten over it, and a little teasing never hurt anyone.

"Who got sick, Francy?" Tommy asked.

"How didn't you notice how lovesick Brian is?" Will wasn't one for letting the opportunity to mock Brian pass, even if he wasn't giving it his full attention (thank goodness), trying to stop his brother from eating the marshmallows. My little cousin was a sweet kid until he ingested sugar. Then Benji could have powered the continental US with his over-abundance of energy.

"Disgusting," I agreed. It wasn't hard to pretend to mean it, either.

"It's hard for him since Dinah and I probably won't be able to get back for a while," Francy explained to her youngest brother. He looked so disappointed at the thought of losing her that Brian set about distracting him with a football. As the Uley boys and Benji raced off to test Baxter's new strength against Brian's, the conversation returned to where it had started.

"You should come up to visit us," Francy said to Kara. Dinah didn't look thrilled at the thought and Kara just looked scared. "You and Levi. Just for a weekend. I'd be working half the time so the two of you could do your own thing during the day, but we could hang out at night. It would be fun."

"I don't think my mom would approve."

Thank you, Kim. Hell, I'm sure Jared was turning over in his grave at the thought of his only child spending the weekend with her boyfriend.

"We could get her to change her mind, eventually, I'm sure. Only if you wanted, of course. But Seattle is amazing and I think you'd love it."

"Are you sure you wouldn't mind?" Kara asked eventually.

"We'd love it."

"Especially," Will said, "If you pay them for babysitting you."

Kara was less than two years younger than me, for the record. Also for the record, Will never liked the girls I liked. Also, Will was a dick.

"If you can't say something nice, Will, shut up," Dinah snapped. A little too harshly, actually. She better not have thought she'd have to babysit me if I came to visit.

"But then I'd never talk."

"Somehow we would survive without your wit."

"You'd miss me. Who else could you bully all the time?"

He cracked himself up; and Di, though she tried not to show it.

"Anyway," Francy said, ignoring them both, "Think it over and call me whenever is good for you."

As fun as that sounded...but Kara was nodding seriously. Oh well. I'd be able to talk her out of it.

* * *

><p>Eventually, the night started to wind down. Brian wanted to get his brothers to bed and Francy and Dinah wanted to gossip. I wanted Kara alone, but unfortunately that didn't seem like it was going to happen any time soon. Her mother would be home. But there was a mansion in the middle of the forest and the only person who ever visited there was my Uncle Seth. I was trying to remember where my mother's brother was staying when Bertie finally approached us.<p>

"Took you long enough," Will said. He abandoned me in a heartbeat, but I didn't mind (I had already given him a bruise on his arm that might get him to think twice about insulting my girlfriend). At least when he was smothering Bert he was doing something. And Bert never seemed to mind; he was a good kid that way. He just had lousy taste in girls (not that I wouldn't have killed him if he tried going out with my kid sister, but that was beside the point).

"I forgot," he admitted. "I got to level thirty, though."

Will rolled his eyes at me, but he was smiling. "We had smores."

"You save any chocolate for me?"

I laughed at his mournful tone, resting my chin on Kara's head as Will turned to ask Di where the chocolate was. Since Francy had her brothers cleaning up, my sister came over to us carrying the bag.

"They ate most of it," my sister warned him. "But I think there might be a piece in there somewhere."

The kid almost dropped the bag she tossed to him. He hadn't adapted that well to the werewolf changes. The superpowers just made him more awkward and he had never been that suave to begin with.

"Sorry," he muttered. "Thanks."

"Hey Bert." Judy practically sang as she came up beside Will. "Did you just get here now?"

Like she hadn't been waiting for him to show up this entire time. My little sister did not know how to play it cool. At all.

"Uh, yeah," he mumbled, staring at his shoes.

"We can stay a little longer," Will said to me. "Unless you've got someplace to go?"

Seth was staying at the Cullens tonight, I remembered. Damn. That meant I didn't have any place else to be.

"Yeah, come on," I said, pulling Bertie towards the fire. "We've got to plan your first patrol, anyway."

Francy offered to take the boys back home so Brian could stay with us. After she had promised Will that she would hand Benji directly over to my Aunt Rachel, she was allowed to leave with the boys, Dinah and Kara making sure no one tried for a jailbreak. Brian and I watched the girls go reluctantly, but it was an important moment in Bert's life. We had to stay with him.

It was weird not making jokes about his first time, though. Having Judy around at pack meetings meant everyone tried to keep things PG (well, PG-13). Having to watch my language when my parents weren't around was kind of weird. As was seeing my little sister naked, but I didn't think about that. My poor brain couldn't handle it.

"So when are we going?" Judy asked.

"Now," I announced. So we went.

We headed to the forest then. Judy disappeared into the trees first and we all waited until the tiny white wolf came to greet us before we could go in ourselves.

"Just do what feels natural," Brian said to Bert.

"As long as you don't make anyone cry afterwards, you're good," Will added.

"They're going to shut up," I promised Bert.

Baxter said, "No. They never do."

A bark from the woods told us Judy was ready for us. Good. "Come on, kid."

Still, he hesitated.

"We're not going to let anything happen to you," Will promised.

When Bert stared at me, I echoed my cousin. Then: "Now get your ass moving."

We stripped down in the forest, folded up our clothes (okay, so not really) and then phased. It was only then that I realized Bert's nervousness might not have had anything to do with running a patrol.

_You imprinted on my big SISTER?_


	2. Chapter 2

We had planned to run for a couple of hours, but that plan was scrapped pretty fast. Judy was feeling betrayed and embarrassed, Bert was humiliated (and horny—god, I did not need to know that), Brian was pissed, Will was getting his hackles up over Bert's safety, Baxter thought we were all nuts and I was getting a damn headache. I told them all to go home.

Now.

Brian still almost hit Bert, which meant Will almost hit him and I desperately needed a nap.

Eventually, I got them all out of my damn head (more importantly, out of Judy's) and on their way.

"My sister leaves tomorrow," I told the kid after Brian left. "I'll tell her tonight, but you can't see her until she comes back next time."

"Yeah," he muttered. I was just about to phase back before he added, "Could you tell her I said hi?"

He sounded so hopeful I found myself agreeing before I told him to fuck off already.

Then I phased back to talk to Judy.

_Can't really blame him,_ she was saying. _I mean, Di's really pretty and—_

_He didn't have a choice about it,_ I reminded her.

_Not like he would have picked me anyway. Levi? Why doesn't anybody like me?_

_That's like the stupidest thing I've ever heard,_ I promised her.

But she wasn't in the mood to listen to her wise older brother. The fluffy white wolf just curled into little ball and started to whimper. I licked her cheek and asked her if she wanted me to kill him for her.

_Still wouldn't make him like me,_ she sniffled. _Well, at least, Dinah will be happy._

* * *

><p>Dinah was not happy.<p>

"This is _not_ funny, Levi," she hissed.

Since Judy could fall asleep like no one's business—and since I could hear if anyone woke up—Dinah and I were whispering in my room. My parents were snoring in the room beside us; they wouldn't be happy when I told them in the morning. Mom already thought she and Dinah were cursed—she would not be happy to learn that Judy was also…not blessed.

"You think I could make this kind of crap up if I tried?"

"Bertie's like...Judy's age."

"Don't worry, Di. He'll be legal in October."

I couldn't help myself. Luckily, I ducked out of the way of my sister's punch before she broke her hand.

"Levi, don't _even_. I refuse to be soul mates with a fifteen year old boy. I had to live with you when you were that age and _uh. _No thank you."

"You don't have much choice about it. But, hey. He's a good kid, Di. You tell him you want to keep this like Dad and Nessie and I think he'll go along with it. Besides, you're not even going to be here."

Bert was not a sociable person by nature. Chances were he was never going to embarrass Dinah with any romantic declarations of love because it would never occur to him to say anything. He'd leave her mostly alone even if he was in love with her.

Not that it would help his case. They might not even be able to become friends because Dinah was never going to forgive the poor kid for accidentally breaking Judy's heart.

"But while I'm off at school I'll know that there's someone back at the rez who's thinking about me all...it's disgusting."

"How is this different from Brian pining after you last year?"

"I dated Brian."

"So he was allowed to picture you naked?"

My sister looked like she wanted to hit me (again), but since she couldn't, she settled for a metaphoric low blow instead. "Brian didn't have to use his imagination so it was okay."

"You're mean."

"And you're losing focus." She sighed. "Poor Judy."

"Yeah."

"This sucks."

"Comes with being a werewolf."

"And here I thought sucking was a vampire thing."

* * *

><p>"He did what?"<p>

My mother's tone of voice didn't make me very inclined to repeat the news. It also made me scared for Bert. Vampires, I reminded myself. I had killed vampires. I could tell my mother this.

"Bert imprinted on Dinah."

"It's not the kid's fault, Leah." Probably Dinah's own fault, for running after Brian the way she had been, but I didn't say that. My mother was glaring at my father, like all this was somehow _his_ fault, so I did what my father couldn't and kept my mouth shut.

"I don't see the big deal," Judy muttered, "They'd be okay together."

"Or not."

I agreed with Dinah. "She's like a billion years older."

My father burst out laughing. Traitor. My mother turned her infamous scowl in my direction. "In a few years, three years won't mean anything."

"So you want him with Di, now?"

"I'm just saying."

"Well," my older sister said, "I'm not interested, so that's that."

"That's what Emily said."

"I'm sure Bert will respect Dinah's wishes." Dad stepped in, knowing this was going nowhere good. Mom and Dinah had enough determination in them for whole stadiums full of people. The idea of them arguing with each other always freaked me out.

I added, "And it might help that Brian outranks him."

"Hopefully," Mom said. "At least we never had that happen to us, pack imprinting on another member's girlfriend."

"Lucky us." My dad was openly laughing at me. I flipped him off behind Mom's back.

"I guess there's nothing else we can do but give the speech, Jake."

"What?" All traces of laughter faded from Dad remarkably quickly. "Leah, come on. We don't have to—"

"You always give the speech."

"To my idiot friends. Not…Dinah wouldn't..."

"Fine. I'll give it. Dinah, I don't care what you feel or how in love you think you are. The state of Washington says you have to wait until he's sixteen."

"Mom!"

"We give it to the boys. We have to give it to you."

"Totally _not_ going to be a problem."

"Good," Dad said. I think that's what he said. The growling made it hard to understand him. "Well, now that _that_ awkwardness is settled, I have an alternator to fix." So not my fault. "Any takers?"

The invitation was for Judy, but she didn't look up, the way she hadn't looked up the entire conversation, just sort of wandered back to her room and shut the door a little too firmly. And then burst into tears. My old man looked gutted enough for the rest of us, not that we didn't all feel terrible.

"I'll go talk to her in a minute," Mom said.

I said, "You still need a hand, old man?"

Dad accepted. Personally, I never got how he could fiddle around with cars all day and then come home and fiddle with them some more. But he seemed to love it, so power to him.

I liked fiddling around with them sometimes, but Judy was the one who knew what the hell was going on with the stupid machines. If I was playing with a car in my free time it was because Will needed Judy to fix his car and I had to 'supervise' her (she wouldn't tell anybody I didn't really have a clue about what I was doing).

When we were alone, my father spoke to me.

"Remind me I can't kill Bert."

"You can't kill Bert." Then: "I called dibs."

Dad sighed. As nice as pretending was, it wasn't Bert's fault. That's what we kept having to repeat to ourselves. Even before he hadn't been interested in someone he saw as a kid sister (what a stupid excuse that was—I hated…it was just stupid).

In the house, I could hear Mom finally braving the door. All she got for her trouble was a muttered, "Go away!"

"Not until you let me in."

"That's not you going away."

"Fine. You got me. There's nothing on earth that could make me go away. Now open up before I break down your door."

"Blow down the door."

"What?"

"Wolves blow down the door," my kid sister muttered.

Mom didn't laugh, but I was sure she was smiling. In the face of my mother, Judy had to cave. Judy liked caving in general. "Okay. Let me in, let me in."

"Three years isn't that big of a deal."

I stopped spying, since my dad was talking to me, even if he didn't make sense.

"What?"

"Three years isn't a big deal. Even when you're sixteen…when you're sixteen you're dumb enough to think it's not a big deal and by the time you stop being an idiot, it really isn't a big deal."

"I don't care if Mom's too old for you."

He laughed. "Don't use the words 'too old' to describe your mother. Not until you're sure you can outrun her."

I suppose he had a point.

"Any other words of wisdom?"

"When you have an army of vampires coming to kill you, you manage to sort out the pack melodrama a hell of a lot faster."

"Got it."

Now where could I find a bunch of vampires?

Inconsiderate psycho killers.

* * *

><p>The night was cold but the girls wanted to go back to the beach, so to the beach we went because giving in was easier than thinking of something else. Dinah and Francine were supposed go back tonight, but we wanted to spend some more time with them. Well, Brian and I wanted to spend some more time with them. As the member of our pack who didn't want to spend more time with them, Will was the one driving them back later tonight (he didn't have a job, he didn't need as much sleep as a normal human and he was the only one with a car). Since he was being annoying lately, he hadn't even bothered lying to get out of it.<p>

The fourth seat in the car was being filled by Artie, since the Uley boys wanted to spend more time with their sister and he won the rock-paper-scissors tournament we held to decide who would go. I think they younger boys were trying to guilt her into coming back as soon as she could; they had missed her (and she was the better cook).

Brian and Dinah were walking beside each other, holding hands and talking quietly, off in their little world that made me kind of sick. That was why I tried focusing on Will's complaints about the cost of gas. Since he'd taken over controlling everybody's spending I had to listen to him complain about every sandwich someone bought. Will had managed to save a lot of money growing up even with a drug habit and I was learning that it was because my cousin was as cheap as hell.

Fortunately, Francy was walking all by herself and it would have been inconsiderate to ignore her.

"It's no big deal," she said when I joined her. "I'm used to being the third wheel."

But she didn't ask me to leave. It was like having an invitation.

"I don't know how you put up with them." I sighed.

"They make each other happy."

"Team Bert," Will muttered from behind us.

"Dinah's not interested in him," Francy said lightly. "Even if he is a sweet kid."

"Yeah," I agreed. Kid sometimes freaked me out because quiet was a word I heard but never needed to use to describe the people I knew. I still liked him.

Now if only I could fix Judy. The werewolf stuff would help. Get her out for a run…she had the same attention span that I did. She would get over it after a good fight. Which left me with the same problem as before—where was I going to find vampires? Where was my father's soul mate when I needed her? (Darfur, Seth had told me, not that I had really cared)

"Bert just lights up when he talks about running with you," Francy said.

Possibly because he was now tall enough that when he looked down at Francy he couldn't help smiling, but I was going to pretend it was because I was awesome.

"Glad we can keep him busy."

"Brian was saying you were doing even more patrols."

"Yeah. There's more of us, so we could go further out each patrol. With our numbers, we might as well take the fight to the vampires."

"Sounds dangerous."

I couldn't tell if she approved or was thinking about how to pluck out my eyeballs if I let something happen to her twin brother (or worse, her younger brother—I'd end up begging for death if something happened to Baxter). So I made a joke.

"Danger is my middle name."

She laughed (with me, I think), before she said, "Please tell me I didn't hear you say that."

"We'll all be fine," I promised her. We would be. I really was awesome. "We all love training. And Bert's going to clear six feet easy in a few weeks and that'll make him the shortest." Aside from Judy, who would have to be content with being the same weight as Will. Speaking of my cousin...

"Hurry up," I called behind us.

He just shrugged. "Didn't want to disturb the moment. I am Team Fran, too, you know."

I hit him when he reached us; Francy just laughed. "You just want to start taking bets."

The way Will wouldn't meet my eyes suggested Dinah wasn't the only Black who's love life he was giving odds on. I was going to kill my entire pack (and possibly my extended family and most of our friends). It was none of their damn business.

"Could you just _not_?" I asked him. "Just once?"

"Hey, I was happy walking by myself."

Since it served him right, I hit him again. So he hit me and then we wrestled around a bit. When Dinah finally broke us up, we were good again.

Dinah and Brian ended up curled together, disgusting as always. I had been hoping not bringing Kara would stop them from coupling off. But I guess they would have to be content with phone calls for a while and the thought of not being able to touch Kara for months was enough to make me slightly sympathetic (sympathetic enough not to sit down between them, at any rate).

The five of us sat around the fire, just telling dumb stories. Brian was bragging about how excited the twins were about school and telling us about how Artie was now in love with some little girl who wasn't his older brother's soulmate and not talking about how Baxter wasn't quite as thrilled as the rest of us about the whole werewolf thing. One headache at a time. That's why, despite the fact that Will was Will, Brian was now easily my favourite.

He would have made sure to include Kara in the conversation, even if…I hadn't invited her along tonight not just because I didn't want Dinah and Brian thinking this was a couple thing. Tonight wasn't really about conversations Kara could join in. She wouldn't have fit, not the way Francy did.

It was like when Dinah found out about the three of us. She blinked and then suddenly she belonged because she had always belonged, even if we had spent most of our adolescence in two separate groups. We could come together, like we had when we were kids. Francy was part of that. Kara…wasn't. She could have been, but she was a little too shy. And young, I guess.

"Brian wants to start giving the boys redeemable gold stars for doing their homework properly," Francy said and we all knew where he had gotten that idea from.

"You cannot raise your brothers on techniques you invented so we could play house as kids," my sister declared.

"Why not?" Brian said. "It worked then."

"No, it didn't," Will said. "You just gave all the gold stars to your sister."

"Because I was the best child."

"I resent that," I said even though…yeah, she had deserved the gold stars.

My sister was far too open about which child she had liked better; it really wasn't very nice of her. "Please. You didn't deserve any. You were the worst child imaginable."

"Because my mother was psycho."

She snorted; my traitorous soul mate spoke up.

"Well, Levi you did try to drown our dog." Baxter had lived.

"I rest my case," my sister said smugly. Then she wrapped her arm and kissed Brian on the cheek. "We were so the best parents ever."

"We were."

This time Francy decided to make her brother miserable. She continued: "The two of you burned down our imaginary house."

"That was Will's fault."

My cousin rolled his eyes at my sister, but even he wasn't immune from nostalgia. There was a small smile playing at the corner of his mouth. Because when they hadn't been attacking each other, he and Dinah had come up with some pretty great games.

"You wanted a bonfire in the house; I just pointed out what would happen."

"Dumbass parents," I said.

"Brian."

The punch wasn't too hard. Just because they were dating didn't mean he had to do exactly everything she said.

"Our trek across America looking for a new home was epic," Francy said.

"I remember getting lost in the forest for hours." Brian sighed.

"Which is why it was awesome," Dinah announced.

Playing happy family might have sounded lame, looking back, but at the time it had been cool. It was something we could all do together, at any rate. Dinah was too rough to play sports with—also, we couldn't put her on the opposite team as Will, because that just led to one of them trying to kill the other (they were both kind of competitive), and if we put them on the same team it wasn't safe for the rest of us. It had been a relief when my sister grew up and moved on to trying to get Will arrested, to tell the truth. At least he'd probably survive that.

But we weren't talking about what had happened after, when we went our separate ways. We were talking about the way we could work together when we were hopelessly lost. And that just set us off on the other games we had played in the forest (which was just made for epic hide-and-seek contests). Or the time Francy had got herself stuck in a tree and wouldn't let us call her father so Brian created this whole pulley system that almost worked and in the end Will pointed out all we really had to do was leave her shoe behind (Dinah made me climb up and get it down later on). Or the time our little happy family had to celebrate our parents' anniversary—Francy wanted to plan another wedding—and we actually managed to put together enough edible food to make all of us sick for a week (I blamed Dinah's brownies).

They had been good times, hanging out together.

"What happened to us?" Dinah asked eventually.

Because this was the closest we had gotten in years.

"It stepped being pretend," Will said with a shrug.

"That reminds me," Brian said. "Artie wants guitar lessons."

"Just get him a second-hand one and let him figure it out himself," Dinah said. "Do we know anyone with a guitar?"

I knew a few guys, but none that I was supposed to talk to anymore. None I was brave enough to bring up in front of my sister.

"There's Ray," Francy said quietly. "I could talk to him."

Will got up and took off without another word.

I guess he didn't want to be talking about Marlena's ex-boyfriend.

"Should we go after him?" Brian asked.

I rolled my eyes while Dinah just tried to look grateful. "I don't think he'd like that, Brian."

We talked some more, but we all knew the night was over, so Dinah and Brian hastily excused themselves for reasons I did not want to think about. As nice as it was hanging out with Francy, Will would probably let me near him if I came alone. She had to pack anyway.

It was like she could read my mind.

"He'll be all right." Francy's voice was barely loud enough to cut across the night, but it didn't have to be, because I couldn't ignore her if I wanted to. Her expression was calm, cold, almost, but I could see the sadness in her eyes as she willed me to believe her. "So will Judith. Just like Artie was. I miss her too but you can't…you can't die of a broken heart, Levi. My father tried—you just can't do it."

"Yeah." I had to add, "Just don't tell him that. Will might take it as a challenge."

My imprint laughed beside me and told me to go find him. If she was just being polite, I didn't stick around long enough to ask.


	3. Chapter 3

It was different now that Dinah back at school. Last year, with the whole becoming-a-mystical-creature bit and losing my dream girl to my cousin and then losing my cousin to my dream girl (and then losing them both in two different, awful ways that I hated thinking about), I was a little too busy to care that Dinah was gone. That and we hadn't been particularly close. She was bossy and perfect and so frustrating. Now, after a summer spent with her, getting to know her outside of the annoying chick who always seemed to get to do everything first just because our parents liked her better, I kind of missed having her around.

It was nothing to the way Brian missed her.

Not only was there the whole having someone to hold you thing that I refused to think about in relation to my sister, but Dinah had been a big help with the boys. She cleaned and cooked and told them off at appropriate moments (which Brian was physically incapable of doing). Without her around, the person helping out Brian was Sam.

It was good for Sam—a bit stressful, but good. He didn't have to do everything because Brain was there (not that he knew _how_ to do everything because that had been Emily's job, before) but he could learn the way the twins had and he was willing to try now.

Brian was ecstatic. But Brian missed Dinah because not everyone in his family thought it was perfectly okay for Sam to act as if nothing had happened.

And since Baxter was now my problem too…I really missed my big sister.

Somehow the stupid punk kid hadn't gotten the Uley supply of infinite patience or boundless forgiveness. In fact, he was angry at the rest of his family for just taking Sam back (quietly angry—he was Uley enough that he couldn't go crazy-angry on anybody to save his life). His disappointment with the rest and his fury with his father were obvious now that we could read the kid's thoughts.

There wasn't much we could do but wish he would stop.

After all, he was entitled to be angry. Aside from making Brian feel like a miserable failure, Baxter wasn't causing any problems (it took Will three hours, but Baxter hadn't even smoked a joint since their…conversation). He just made us feel like shit. Even talking about it to Dinah constantly didn't make Brian feel better.

It seemed like my two best friends had resigned themselves to lives of constant moping.

Bert was a whole lot better about Dinah going away than Brian was. Oh, there was the inevitable my-imprint's-not-right-beside-me sadness that all of us felt when the girls weren't right there (annoying, that's what it was) but aside from that, which was pretty muted on the kid, there wasn't much depression at her leaving (fortunately for Judy).

Then again, even being able to read Bert's mind I couldn't really figure him out. He was just so…_there._

Even grief over his sister's death was strangely muted. Judy said once that he was just trying to stop Will from feeling worse.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to strangled the kid or admire him for it.

Kids these days.

Too damn thoughtful.

* * *

><p>Since all the B-boys in my pack were driving me nuts, I figured the best thing for me to do was spend more time with them. Specifically, I decided what we really needed was a big pack run.<p>

Will just rolled his eyes at me once I hunted him down and explained what I wanted. There weren't many places to look for him these days; if he wasn't working or on patrol, he was lying on his couch. The fact Will was voluntarily spending time at home did not help my worries about his mental state.

"It'll be good for everyone," I told him.

"Assuming no one gets in a fight over your sister or with your other sister and you can refrain from picturing Brian's sister naked." He snorted. "I'm glad I don't have a sister."

It was rude, sure, but he didn't look up from his book and on a scale of cranky Judy to Dad after I killed the Rabbit that one time, Will was hanging just below the Baxter Uley in terms of snark. And that was just not normal…

"He can't drift forever," Brian tried to assure me once the two of us got together. "And it's not like he's getting into trouble."

"Which is the part that FREAKS ME OUT."

I couldn't remember a time before this year when Will hadn't been trying to do at least six things at once. Sure, there had been a few times when he had to lay low for whatever reason, but even then he had been doing _something_. You could argue about whether it was legal or right or whatever, but it had been something that required him to get off his mother's couch.

"Maybe the run will help him, too." Brian grimaced. "Beating me up always seems to cheer him up."

Brian should have been able to kick Will's ass—he was bigger and stronger and only a fraction slower. One day I was going to figure out how to get Brian Uley to fight properly.

"Maybe if you stopped picking on a little kid…"

Bert was still growing into his size.

"He's being disrespectful." Brian growled.

"It's not like he means to think about her." All the fucking time.

"Yeah, but he's not sorry. At least you apologize when you picture my sister naked."

That was just an old reflex.

"The kid's apologetic to me."

"You also outweigh him by almost a hundred pounds."

"True. It's good to be a giant." I added, "That's what she tells me, anyway."

"After she told you to buy her a stool?"

"Do you get neck aches sometimes from leaning over?"

"Levi…" Brian was a little embarrassed, but finally said, "That's why they invented couches. And beds. And—"

"I get the idea." Unfortunately… "She's still not comfortable."

After Kara had been treated to a first-hand demonstration to just how strong I was, not to mention the damage I could do, physical affection had all but dropped off her list of things to do. I had gone from days away from getting her in bed to hand-holding freaking her out sometimes. It sucked. My wrist was starting to get as sore as my neck. What good was having a girlfriend if I had to do everything myself?

"It's dangerous. Just give her some time to readjust." Of course, when Brian remembered he should explain just how dangerous it was to Dinah, my sister had just shrugged ("this means I can stop feeling guilty about giving you bruises, right?"—ewwwwwwwwwww).

"I hate being reasonable."

"In the meantime, try taking her some place special."

Not that I could afford it. I got ten bucks a week (my cousin was the cheapest asshole on the planet). That was it. If I wanted to go out I couldn't. I had to save up for weeks. Kara and I spent a lot of time on the beach, lately. It was vaguely romantic.

More importantly, it was free.

* * *

><p>Still, Brian managed to date my sister. I figured he knew a few things about girls.<p>

I took Kara to the Cullen's house. It was the only really nice place I knew that I could get into for free. The food was already there (I wasn't sure if my uncle bought it, or the Cullens had it delivered—the more I knew about them, the more I thought they were nuts). It was just a matter of cooking it.

"Um…is it supposed to look like that?"

Kara bit her lip before she answered, which told me all I need to know.

"Well…you can eat anything. So I'm sure…"

"You're a lousy liar," I told my girlfriend. Then, since her cheek was right there…

"That's why you're burning the food," she informed me. But she let me kiss her cheek. And her nose. And her forehead. And her lips…

Stupid smoke.

"That's not good."

I lifted the pan off the stove and tried to salvage dinner. Kara just frowned. "I told you I could do it. I don't mind."

I didn't have a problem getting my girlfriend to cook for me; hell, I was all for everyone cooking for me. I had a problem admitting defeat once I stupidly started something.

"It's fine. I'll just cut off the burnt parts."

"You won't have anything left to eat."

"Cute."

It got her giggling, so it was all good. Not that I was thinking about all the empty rooms in the smelly house, but since we were there it wouldn't hurt to explore. Kara was still wearing the bulky shapeless sweaters she was addicted to, but she had started wearing ones that didn't come up to her neck, so I figured she wouldn't hate it if I nibbled on all the exposed skin a bit.

"I thought you were hungry."

"I'm always hungry."

"Well, I don't want you starving on your run tomorrow," she said, pushing me away (I let her push me away), and looking at the cutlet.

"You're no fun."

She stuck out her tongue and she looked too cute, so I had to laugh. "I will learn to cook my meat," I promised her.

"It's the fancy stove's fault for making it so complicated."

That was my girl.

"I'm going to miss you the next couple of days." The pack could be a little intense, sometimes, so I was really going to miss her.

"You brought it on yourself," she said sweetly.

"Someone has to look after them. They'd be lost without me."

She giggled some more and then asked how everyone was doing and how long were going and if we really were going to go after the vampires.

"As soon as I find them."

"Aren't we in a vampire lair?"

"Yeah, but my dad said I can't kill them 'cuz they let us use the house." And for other reasons, most of which were stupid. "And it is not a lair—there's a fur carpet in the other room."

"Exactly."

She had a point. "Maybe we should look for secret passages afterwards."

She thought it was a good idea so that's what we did. And if I got distracted by all the rooms, well, she didn't complain too too much. We just enjoyed the last time we had together before I killed all my pack and then had to go on a run from the law (Will and Brian's lack of enthusiasm was catching, or maybe I was just remembering what a pain in the ass everyone was).

"You have any plans while I'm away?" I asked when she started freaking out about the making out.

"Not really. I do have plans for when you come back," she said. "There's that new pizza place in Hoquiam that maybe you could take me too?"

Whenever Brian asked for money so he could talk to my sister, Will sighed overdramatically and then gave in. If I asked for money to take Kara out, he'd call her…things. And then he still wouldn't give me the money.

"You really want to go there?"

"Fran said it was really good."

Now my cousin wasn't the problem. "When did you talk to her?"

"We've been talking on the phone lately."

It wasn't paranoia if they really were out to get you.

I mean, I knew Kara couldn't hang with Will or even Dinah (they'd crush her—even if they didn't mean to, which Will did, they couldn't have helped it) but I had been hoping it would be the Uley boys or Judy or even Bert who would befriend her for me.

Not Francine.

"When did you become friends with her?"

Kara blushed. "I don't know if we're friends yet but…"

"I'm sure she considers you a friend." It was just my luck. "What do the two of you talk about?"

"You, mostly."

"Seriously?"

"No, Levi." So my girlfriend was evil. Hot, but evil. She squealed when I picked her up, but let me kiss her. As I settled her back on top of me, she shrugged. "I don't know. We just talk about stuff. She's really nice."

"You're nice."

"You're hungry."

"You should take off your shirt." Kara was unimpressed, but I defended myself. "I thought we were having a state the obvious contest. Sorry."

"You are not as charming as you think you are."

But she let me get to second base, so all in all, I think I was as charming as I had to be.

* * *

><p>"It's weird that they're friends, right?" I demanded from Brian and Will as we sat on the cliff top. "I'm not just being…"<p>

"Unreasonable?" Brian suggested. After I slugged him, he just shrugged. "My girlfriend might actually be more into my sister. I'm not the person to be talking to. I think it's great that they're getting along."

Yeah, except Francy wasn't my sister.

"You get used to it," Will said. "Fran said this, Fran said that…it was like being stuck with freshman you all over again."

I grinned. Because Francy might not have been keen on dating me, but I don't think she minded me dating Kara. Maybe she'd even talk Kara into clothes that fit. Marley used to wear these turtlenecks that were just works of fucking art.

"You do have to be careful," Will continued, "Because it's not like Fran was wrong about me. And while Lena actually had a mind of her own, Kara might listen to her."

Sometimes, even punching just wasn't satisfying enough. I mean, it still helped. Just not enough.

"My sister won't interfere if Kara is happy."

"So keep her happy," I said. I liked it better when Kara only had friends who were scared of me. "Was Francy always this annoying?"

"Hey!"

"She's actually not that bad."

I punched Will because, well, because. "You are not allowed to say that after all this time."

"I thought my entire family were a bunch of brain-dead do-gooders," Brian said.

"You know, I didn't even think you were that bad," Will said, "Until I had to hang out with you."

"I guess being around you doesn't bring out the best in me."

Oh, yeah. I was awesome. They were mocking each other and not punching each other because of me, thank you very much.

"At least I didn't have to listen to the sonnets about your legs and find lockets of your hair in my car and get a black eye because my back up was off stalking you."

"Tell me you're joking," Brian begged. "I mean, obviously Levi couldn't write a sonnet but—"

"Hey!"

"It was actually pretty good," Will said. "What was the final couplet, Levi? And though your brothers might be pests, all I can think about is touching your—"

If the only way to get Will to stop talking was to punch him, then I would do it.

"The hair thing?" Brian asked.

You treasure a few strands of hair ONE TIME and no one ever lets you live it down.

"Okay, now I'm starting to think I should sit Kara down and tell her what warning signs to look out for," Brian said. He managed to dodge the blow, but barely. He was laughing at me too hard.

"I hate you both. You should be defending me from the way my imprint is picking on me. Not picking on me too."

"Is he pouting?" Brian asked in wonder.

"He is definitely pouting," Will said. "Sad, really. I might just cry."

"Would be hard to notice with all the moping you've been doing lately," I said.

"Did you just bring up my dead girlfriend? Classy, Levi."

"The two of you still weird me out." Brian sighed.

"Shut up, Brian."

And no, we did not say that together. I said it. Will just opened his mouth at the same time. If sound came out, no one was listening to him.

* * *

><p>The run was…not my best idea.<p>

It should have been fun. Running around, looking for vampires, rough housing when we couldn't find them were the sorts of things that should have united us. It had always worked before. Sort of. I mean, I got Brian and Will hanging out in the same room voluntarily so clearly I had done something right.

It should have worked.

It started out promising. We met up at the clifftops and since there was space and I knew we were going to get into a few fights later on, I figured we might as well start with a nice little roundrobin sort of thing. If we were going to do this vampire thing (just as soon as I found us some vampires) then I needed to know exactly what my pack could do.

They were pretty impressive, if I do say so myself. They had a long way to go right then, but you could already see the potential. Actually, it was kind of really nice. Brian and Will were my guys, but…when it came down to it, neither of them were very good werewolves. They didn't love it the way I did. It didn't come naturally. They both didn't want it to. Brian hated how it made him so unlike himself; Will hated how he wasn't much different as an animal. They both overthought like you wouldn't believe. Honestly, they should have bonded over how they both kind of sucked at it.

They heard me as I crowed about how naturally the kids took to it. Neither of them were very happy with me the rest of the night, though they stood by me when the kids started getting really stupid later. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Judy was the best. She just got it. It was a real shame she was so damn small. She might have inherited Mom's speed, though, so maybe it wouldn't be too bad (though it's not like I was going to risk sending my little sister out on scouting missions, so…I'd find something to do with her). Baxter was a lot better than I thought any of the Uley's would be; I just hoped he wasn't trying to show up his brother. Bert was almost as good as Judy. Maybe all those video games had helped because his reflexes were sharp. Maybe having time to know about what werewolves were (and having Marley cooing about how wonderful they were) had paid off. He was having fun.

It made sense, at the time, to have him fight Judy.

Not _good_ sense, I'll grant, but sense.

It's not like I had ever had to deal with a female werewolf before. Sure, my mom was a wolf, but she was Dad's problem. She was also my mother and by the time I phased, all the old-timers were used to having her around and she was married to my father who was _the biggest wolf around_. Will might have made the occasional crack about her ass, but that was just to piss me off. Only Brian had occasional thoughts about her that made me want to stab him, but Brian was too scared of my dad and his dad to do give them free range.

I didn't think having Judy around would be all that different from having another guy in our pack.

I _really_ didn't think about my little sister having hormones.

Looking back, it seems pretty obvious that there was going to be a problem. I always missed Kara most after a run; Will used to time his patrols so he'd get to see Marley right after; even Brian tended to seek out my sister after a fight. But we were guys. Obviously we different. Hell, after standing up for too long I wanted to see my girlfriend. It didn't have to be a wolf thing.

It was a wolf thing.

But the time Bert was tossing her into a tree, Judy was feeling really…friendly towards him.

I did not need to know that.

But I knew that and Bert knew that and Judy knew we all knew it and suddenly Levi's happy bonding excise of 2030 kind of blew monkey nuts.

Judy phased back right in front of us and just raced off into the woods naked. You didn't need werewolf hearing to hear her crying.

Shit.

The only good part was that Baxter said, _When did Judy start looking like _that_ naked?_ so I got to try to tear him to pieces. It was therapeutic. The Uley boys against me and Will might not have been fair, but Bert tried to help out the other younger pup, so it was a decent fight.

Afterwards, when I was over the murderous rage stage, we just stood around awkwardly on the cliff top.

_The poor kid_, Brian said. _What are we going to do about her?_

_First person to mention Canada dies,_ Will said. _Painfully._

_You end up in jail if you kill someone,_ Bert said. Will nipped at him, but he didn't care. _I hear jail's not very good for your health._

_Neither is being a werewolf, _Baxter complained, _If all we do is sit around attacking each other._

_You're lucky you're still breathing, _I snarled. _Go home._

_Does this mean I don't have to drop everything and run around in the woods with all of you?_

Maybe I had imprinted on Francine so I'd feel bad about killing the brat. It might have been the only reason I didn't throw him off the cliff. Instead, I just told him to get away from me. We'd try the run some other time.

_Sorry I ruined the night, _Bert said. He was still kind of deathly embarrassed remembering the fight, but he did say, _Tell Judy I'm sorry. _Of course, he ruined it by saying, _And tell Dinah I said hi._

This time Brian was the one running off some dumb kid. At least he was on my side.

_Even if I'm a shitty werewolf?_ Brian asked.

_Oh come on. I didn't mean it._

Even Will was unimpressed by my defence, insisting they fought in ways that were in no way similar (they would be wrong about that). Then we proved that fighting worked out a lot better when it was just the three of us. Stupid kids, ruining everything.

* * *

><p>Since a run didn't work, I ended up calling Nessie.<p>

Finding her number was a bitch and a half. No one, it seemed, bothered writing the damn thing down. I knew my dad and uncle, at least, called her sometimes but both of them had apparently memorized the stupid thing and I couldn't figure out a way to trick them into telling me. I suppose I could have just asked, but since I might get told off, I went to visit my grandmother and copied the number out of Charlie Swan's address book instead. For a police chief, he had lousy security in his home.

After waiting until my parents were asleep (I didn't want to tell mom want I was doing, just in case it upset her) I called the vamp. The phone rang a ridiculously long time. I was about to hang up when she _finally_ picked up.

"I need your superpowers to find me some vampires."

"Excuse me?"

"I need to kill some vampires."

"Who is this?"

That kind of hurt. "Levi."

"Lev...yes, of course. You want to kill vampires?"

And to prove that my mother had brought me up properly, I said, "Please."

"Um...it doesn't work like that, Levi. My aunt tries not to concentrate on the rest of the world. It's too overwhelming for her. Sometimes, if something really awful happens she can try focusing on it once she catches a glimpse, but if she doesn't know what she's focusing on...I'm sorry, but I don't think she can do that."

I couldn't help the words that came out just then, even though they would have caused my grandmother to shove a piece of soap in my mouth.

"Oh," she said. "Well, if it's that important I could...I can see what I can do in the morning, I guess."

It was better than nothing. Not much better, but still better.

"Thanks a bunch. Hey, listen, I know my uncle says he doesn't mind it a little rough, but always remember to keep your fangs to yourself."

I think she hung up on me. Cranky.


	4. Chapter 4

Strangely enough, when I came home from Kara's the next day, my uncle was at my house waiting for me. He was in the middle of talking to my mother, but he didn't give me his usual costmary smile.

"Stop smirking," my mother ordered me. "It makes you look evil."

"Maybe he is," my uncle offered. "It would explain a lot."

"What did he do now?"

Not that Seth answered her. I couldn't blame him; it made Mom upset when we talked about Nessie and my mom could get lethal when she was upset. Instead, my uncle said, "It's not that easy to just kill someone, Levi."

"Vampires. Not people."

"Still not as easy as you seem to think."

"Or safe," Mom added. "Jared was a damn good fighter. All it takes is one bad day."

"And you're responsible for the lives of everyone in your pack. As much as you might want it to be a game, it's not. Not even close."

"No pressure or anything," I muttered.

"Just something to keep in mind before you go trying to pick a fight," Uncle Seth said as he stood up. He told my mom he was going to eat with Grandma, then took off. My mother still looked far too worried for my liking.

Fortunately, it wasn't about me, I don't think. She said, "It was always harder on him because he doesn't just hate the vamps."

"He really into vampires that much?"

Finally, Mom knocked it off.

"Oh yeah. It's embarrassing. His 'Ode to Edward' was over three hundred pages long."

"And Grandma still likes him better?"

"I will beat you."

But Mom was laughing and even if she repeated what my uncle had said—don't go picking a fight until I was sure I could win—she hugged me. And fed me. A guy couldn't ask for more.

* * *

><p>After dinner, Judy followed my dad out into the garage. At first, I figured she just wanted to hang out with the old man. She was probably feeling sorry for him. He had been pouting about her ignoring him lately. It was kind of pathetic.<p>

Then I heard the banging.

I guess Judy was working out her anger productively, then.

"Everyone's acting so stupid," she complained bursts of noise. "They won't even let me patrol with Bert anymore. They think I'll just lose control and throw myself at him. I mean, it's not that he wants to patrol with me, but—"

"Now that's not true. He's your friend."

"Says who?"

"I can read his mind."

"Stop reading my friends' minds."

"See? He's your friend."

"I guess." Sounding far too bitter to be Judy, a voice said, "I'm everyone's friend. Of course he likes Dinah better."

"Judy—"

"She's just…Dinah. And prettier."

"I'll have you know you take after me and I'm the best looking guy on the planet." My sister snorted quietly, then giggled, then let my dad distract her with some car talk for a minute. Eventually, when their latest crisis was solved, Judy said, "I wish I was more like Mom."

Dad just laughed. "You're so much like your mother."

Judy and I snorted in unison.

Dad faked being offended. "You think I can't tell who is like my wife?"

"I didn't say that. I just…I'm not like her at all."

"Sure you are," Dad said easily. "You might not look like her as much as your sister, but you do have her eyes, you know. And her ears. Very cute ears—just don't tell her I said that."

Judy giggled and promised she wouldn't tell.

"I know you didn't get the glare-gene, for which I am eternally grateful, but those aren't the best parts of your Mom. You got all the other good stuff, the caring and the generosity and whatever the heck it is that allows her to feel for psycho vamps in heels. You're the gooey inside she doesn't let a lot of people see. And if Bert didn't see how great that gooey inside is…well, it's his loss. Because you're extraordinary, baby girl. If I do say so myself."

"You have to say that," my sister sniffed. "You're my dad."

"And damn proud to be."

He let her cry herself out, arms around her and didn't even complain when she used his t-shirt as a tissue. The old man was all right.

* * *

><p>When Judy got hungry and skipped off to the kitchen, I brought my old man a beer. He just laughed and took mine right out of my hand.<p>

"I'm eighteen now." That was practically twenty-one.

"And I'm your father."

Who looked like my slightly older brother, but I didn't point that out. There were other ways to get back at him.

"You might want to try to pretend Judy isn't so obviously your favorite."

"Levi—"

Not that I held it against him.

"She's my favorite, too."

"Hey," Dad said, "I don't—she just always needed me more. That's all."

Despite the occasional outburst, being a werewolf had probably mellowed me out a bit. Knowing my parents could be trusted after all had a therapeutic effect. But before then…before, when I had been so goddamn angry all the time, so lost and…I had needed him then.

Still, Dad wasn't wrong when he said, "You didn't give us much choice about helping you."

"I thought you were a dictator who didn't give people choices?"

"I pretend to be because it makes the others feel better. They like thinking their alpha's all-powerful. You're not though. And it's okay as long as you remember that."

"You still like Judy better."

"Maybe," he said as he handed me back my beer. "But I never kicked you out of the house and I was pretty tempted there for a while."

Judy came skipping back (I think the kid shot me a dirty look; I just about had a heart attack). "Can you kick Levi out of the house now?"

"You're cute."

"You're ugly." The monster even stuck out her tongue at me.

"Don't make me send you to your rooms," the old man begged. Judy pointedly ignored me and took back the wrench and got back to whacking the hell out of the car.

"What is that noise?" my mother asked as she joined us. She took the beer out of my hand as she walked by and hauled herself onto my dad's workbench, the two of them watching Judy and trying not to wince. I was too pissed at my mother stealing my beer to care about my little sister's tantrum, but I stayed.

Mom started asking when we were going to get rid of my dad's Rabbit (after I crashed the one he'd had since he was sixteen back when I was sixteen, he'd gotten a replacement baby that was kind of falling apart all over our house) so I had to watch. The look of horror on my father and sister's faces was too good to pass up.

* * *

><p>Judy and I headed to bed eventually and left our parents in the garage. Either they were getting sloppy or my ears were getting <em>too<em> good because I could hear every word. Or maybe it was because I stopped to sit at the kitchen table so I could eavesdrop like the good son I was.

"It's not like her to sulk." Mom was worried.

"People are allowed to change, Leah. Let her feel bad for a little while."

"I want our baby back," she pouted.

"And I wish our baby never liked boys…and that boys would stop liking my daughters. We have got to do more to keep those kids out of my head."

"My poor baby." I heard my mother get up and settle herself on a very padded chair. "What can we do, though?"

"You know what we could do."

My father's unusually serious tone made me sit up straighter, trying to make sure I didn't miss what was said next. I don't think I did, though it was a long time before I heard my mother speak. Her words came out slowly. She was buying herself time to think.

"If we stop phasing, we won't get to sit like this anymore."

"Says who?"

"Collin's very large belly."

My father laughed like it wasn't true. After the old timers stopped phasing they didn't lose the height or the muscle—at least, not right away. The metabolism went right away though the appetite didn't (or the memory of what they used to be able to eat didn't disappear). That meant that those who stopped phasing tended to get fat. Fast. Sam was already putting on weight; Embry was still in decent shape but that was because his wife was a health nut and because he knew Quil and my Dad wouldn't be nice about him getting flabby. The most frightening thing in life was a disappointed best friend.

"You wouldn't love me if I wasn't a stud?"

"Pretty much."

"Please. You'd just miss me being able to order you around."

"Ha! I've always had all the power."

"It was the legs."

My ears.

The _sounds_ they were making were not helping.

"You used to want to stop," Dad said eventually.

"I haven't for a long while. Some idiot made me think being a girlie-wolf was okay. But…it might be time. Even if…he's still young. Really young, Jake."

"Most of them are older than I was."

"Too old, maybe?"

"The stuff left for him to learn is the stuff I can't teach."

"He's never been a fast learner."

Hey!

"If you don't want to, it's fine, Leah. I was just thinking out loud."

"Twenty years of marriage and you better not start thinking now, Jacob Black. I don't know what I'd do with you then."

He laughed and shrugged it off.

"It was just an idea."

"The rest would have to follow us." The rest—it was a dwindling list. Quil had stopped just after my birthday. It was just my parents and my uncles, now. Uncle Paul was going to try again (he'd tried every two years or so for a long time, now) in November. If it worked this time…I think my parents figured all that out too. "Do you think Seth would agree to stop?"

"We could leave Seth in charge," Dad said.

Except I could beat my uncle in a fight; I was almost sure of it. In scrimmages, we were pretty close to equal. And I was bigger.

"I don't think he sees himself as the La Push alpha," she said slowly.

"Why not?" Dad asked lightly.

"Not even Seth is nuts enough to babysit those kids when he doesn't have to."

They didn't have to sound so amused; they weren't funny. But the laughter seemed to give my mother permission to be serious.

"If you want to," she said, "We stop. What you do, I do. You know that, right? Alpha and Beta until the end."

"Until the end," he echoed. "We'll think about it."

"Okay." Then: "I love you."

"I know."

"Shut up."

Then I took off because I knew exactly where that was going.

* * *

><p>Having to create a pack schedule that kept me away from the boys and Judy away from everyone and Baxter away from his brother and Brain away from Bert and Will with Bert ended up giving me a headache. But it's not like I forgot I had to deal with Judy and her problematic growing pains. I just needed to pick my moment. And since that didn't seem to be coming, one day when she was sitting around on the couch, watching some crappy sitcom, I sat myself down beside her.<p>

"So how's my favorite female werewolf?"

"Busy."

"Doing what?"

"So now you're interested?"

"What?"

"Go away, Levi."

That wasn't like Judy at all. There was usually never any venom in her voice.

"Oh, come on. Don't be like that."

"You're being an asshat."

"See, I don't do hats. I like a little breeze in my hair." Not even a smile. "Seriously. Jubes. Tell me what's wrong and I'll fix it."

"You're what's wrong."

"Okay, now you're just being mean." Still nothing. "Do you want me to beat myself up? Because I can do that."

It was tiny, but the smile was there. "How?"

Easy enough. I just made a fist and kept knocking it into my face. "Stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself, stop…"

I got her eventually. She burst into laughter and let me stop punching myself in the face. Not that I had been going hard, but my jaw ended up a little sore because I thought she'd be a lot faster about stopping me.

"You don't need to beat yourself up," she relented. "I just…being a werewolf is so cool but…it's just…they all think I'm pathetic."

"No, they don't." She didn't believe me, so I pulled out my most convincing argument. "If they did, I'd beat them to death. And then Will would hide the bodies. So since all the pack is still around, they definitely don't think you're pathetic."

"They think I'm a silly girl with a crush she can't stop who can't take a hint and can't fight as well as they can."

"Jubes…" Well, what was I supposed to say to that? "We can practice fighting, but…you just won't ever be as good as the guys. I'm sorry."

"You suck at helping."

Now she was back to glaring. Dad was right—she had missed out on Mom's glaring gene. Judy was not even close to terrifying. But she did look so cute I felt terrible that I couldn't do better.

"Well…what will? I can hit myself again."

She took my offer seriously, thinking everything over. Slowly, an idea came to her. A brilliant idea that was kind of sort of evil—it was right up my alley.

* * *

><p>"Bert needs a tutor."<p>

"And I care because...?" I let the silence tell Dinah exactly what I wanted. "You have got to be kidding me. I'm not doing it."

"In his time of trouble, you're going to abandon this boy just because he has a tiny crush on you? That's kind of heartless of you, Di."

"Get Will to do it."

"Bert needs an English tutor."

Dinah groaned, knowing where this was going. It wasn't like Will couldn't write (I thought) but it made him cranky and it was just best for everyone if we avoided that.

"Get Brian to do it."

"See, I would. But the two of them are sort of having a little pissing contest."

She groaned again and I think I heard her throw something. It was hard to tell over the phone, but I hoped nothing broke. We couldn't afford it. "I do not need to hear this."

"Brian thinks Bert is way too young and immature and generally just not good enough for you. And Bert thinks Brian is an idiot for not getting back with you immediately when he had the chance." And for continuing to think about Ginger even now, but I didn't have to tell my sister that. "Then they start seeing who has the biggest dick—"

"Levi!"

"You want me to tell you who's bigger?"

"I will kill you."

Will came in just then, here to pick Judy up for patrol; I had put my sister on speakerphone for a reason. She heard Will as he said, "I take it from the death threats you asked her."

"Francy could do it."

"She's already working three jobs," I reminded my sister. And tutoring Baxter regularly and helping Bert and Judy when she could. Plus her classes. She was busy enough without taking on Bert more often.

"There's got to be another way," Dinah said.

"Suck it up, Mrs. Robinson." Will laughed. "You're his only hope."

Dinah and Will needed to communicate by phone more often. With them in different cities, Dinah was reduced to snarling and flipping off someone who couldn't see her (I think I knew my sister well enough to guess what she was doing).

"You're whose only hope?" Judy asked as she came out of her room.

"Does Bert really need a tutor?" Dinah demanded.

"Oh. Yeah," my kid sister lied. "He needs all the help he can get, Di. Why wouldn't you do it?"

Dinah hesitated, but I knew we had her. The kid was going to so happy he could finally have a conversation with the love of his life, even if it was only over the internet.

"Fine. I'll do it—on one condition."

"What?"

"If he shows up on my computer screen not wearing a shirt, the deal is off."

Will cracked up, but I tried to be the mature one. Sort of. "You're scared of his chest?"

"That's the condition," Di insisted. "Take it or leave it."

We took it.

"Feel better now?" I asked my kid sister.

She just shrugged. "He'll be happy."

Then she took off for patrol without a backwards glance.

"Brian won't be." Will quickly added, "Not that I care."

"They're just talking. He'll understand." We had done our best to make sure he could see his imprint, after all. It was only fair.

Will sighed. "I can't believe I'm standing here wishing I was as badass as your kid sister."

"Drugs fry your brain."

He laughed, flipped me off and hurried to catch her. I had to talk to Brian. He'd get it. Besides, if it stopped Judy from being upset, it was worth it.


	5. Chapter 5

Almost the second her little scheme was enacted, maybe even the second before, Judy perked up again. It was nice having someone in the pack that liked me. Well, I guess Bert did, too, even if he was bad at expressing it.

I might have upset Brian, but his twin was so quick to extract revenge that he ended up feeling sorry for me instead (it helped that he knew Dinah was never going to forgive the poor kid).

Kim had been completely against the idea of me taking Kara to Seattle from the second she heard about it, which was the first time me and my girlfriend's mom had been on the same page about anything. Unfortunately, my girlfriend was all for us going to Seattle and becoming bestest friends with my imprint.

She didn't have anything to worry about...and if I was going to prove it to her I had to give in. But there was still Kim, so I was confident it wasn't actually going to happen. Kara had school.

I didn't consider that my soul mate was evil.

Though I probably should have.

Kara explained that Kim was sanely trying to keep her daughter from going to Seattle overnight with her boyfriend, so Francy decided to take matters into her own hands. She called up Kim and in a sales pitch college recruiters_ wished_ they could give, she convinced Kim that Kara's future hinged on us visiting the school as soon as possible.

Kim said yes; Kara begged me to take her; Francy said to just tell her what day was best for us; Dinah laughed for a good ten minutes before she promised me the couch.

What could I do with all these women against me?

"There's suicide or an orgy," Will said. Since neither of those options appealed to me...

"It'll be fun," Brian interrupted my plans for faking my death. "The girls will give the two of you space. It's a weekend almost alone with your girlfriend and her mom is all for it."

"Alone except for my sister and your sister hanging around," I snapped.

"The four of you could become great friends."

"You are so screwed." Will laughed.

Pretty much.

* * *

><p>"There's the couch and the air mattress. You can fight over who goes where," Francy explained once we showed up.<p>

"Kara's a hundred pounds lighter. She gets the air mattress," Di corrected. "Sorry. But the damn thing keeps breaking down."

"You're not even giving us beds?" Why had I come?

"Thank you," Kara said, so happily I almost smiled. Almost. I was in hell; now was not the time for smiling even if she looked kind of cute.

I looked pleadingly at Dinah. She was unimpressed. "Kim asked us to put you in the living room. So in the living room you will stay."

"Bert wants to eat whipped cream off you."

My sister flipped me off and announced she had to get to class (I didn't remind her we had shown up when we did because she was finished with classes for the day). The door slammed shut with quite a bit of force—it was a good thing Di hadn't become a werewolf because buildings wouldn't have stood a chance.

"House rule—we do not mention Bertrand Call," Francy informed me. "William's miserly budget does not allow for the destruction of property."

It hadn't included much food either, but I had talked him into that one.

* * *

><p>It wasn't so bad the first night. Kara and I explored the city by ourselves. Neither of us had been to Seattle very often and it did have a lot of things in it. And when my girlfriend got tired of all the stupid hills she let me pick her up.<p>

The stuff in the city was vaguely interesting; the people in the city nearly drove me crazy. The smell of sweat and perfume and unwashed clothes pervaded the air around me; it was like I was being suffocated, but I couldn't fight my way out of it. I knew now why none of the old-timers had left the rez, even though Aunt Rachel still brought it up all the time.

If the smells didn't get to you, the noise would. All around me there were cars honking, doors slamming, music playing, people talking...people breathing. That was the worst part—they didn't even have to be doing anything, it was just that there was so damn many of them. The huffing and puffing was like a rock concert gone wrong right beside my ears.

Though I tried not to tell Kara (I didn't want to ruin her trip), I had a wicked headache by the time we got back.

Seattle hurt.

When we got back to Dinah's place, I collapsed onto the couch, head in Kara's lap as she stroked my hair and talked very softly.

That helped.

Knowing our temporary roommates weren't going to be in until much later (Francy had to work and I promised Dinah I'd help Brian with their chores for a month) helped a lot more.

They weren't going to give me both nights, I knew, because Francy and Kara were gushing about dinner the next night. Still, one night was pretty good. I knew I had Francy to thank for that one, or maybe this summer, because two years ago Dinah wouldn't have left me alone with any girl (my girlfriend or not) no matter what anyone said.

Yet even with our perfect, once in a lifetime opportunity, Kara was still freaked out. At this point, I didn't even know what to do.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I said for what seemed to be the thousandth time. We had stuck to the couch because she thought it was weird fooling around on my big sister's bed (it was called revenge, but I didn't want Kara to think I was petty) and I wasn't going into Francy's bedroom. Kara was on top of me; it would be the easiest thing in the world for her to slip off me if she wanted to so what more could I possibly do?

"I know."

"So, what do I have to do to prove it to you?"

"I know you won't hurt me," she said in that way I kind of hated. It always made me feel kind of guilty, even though I hadn't done anything wrong.

"Then?"

"It's just…I promised Moms we wouldn't…"

I burst out laughing. "So what? We're teenagers. Lying to our parents is like a law or—"

"She's my mom."

"I know. She scowls at me a lot. It's hard to forget her." Apparently, my girlfriend didn't find me funny right then. "Hey, moms are great." Mine could run faster than everything. She won. "But just because you told her something—"

"She's—I can't lie to her."

Kara was completely off of me at this point, putting my shirt on so she was completely covered and she could pout by the other side of the couch without catching cold. I would have complained, but I had done that and it wasn't working for me. New plan.

I sat up, did not think about the other things I would rather be doing, and put my arm around her.

"What is it?"

"She's all I have. And she wouldn't let me come with you unless I promised we wouldn't so…"

"She won't know."

"She will when I tell her."

"Why would you tell her?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Since Kara knew I had a very, very, _very_ long list of reasons why my girlfriend should not tell her mother when (which was looking more like if every day now) we had sex, she cut me off. "Levi, she's…I can't lie to her or not tell her things. She's…she's Moms. That's—I—it would be like...would you not tell Will something?"

"He can read my mind. I kind of don't have a choice about it." Even talking about him made her flinch. Damn. "Listen, if it'll make you feel better, I can break his legs so he won't come anywhere near you."

"Why would…?" Kara shook her head, then said to her the knees curled up against her chest, "Since you magically show all your friends everything, I don't see why I can't tell Moms."

"Please. My sister's part of the pack now. We're trying to go PG."

It wasn't really working, but we were trying. It was only when Kara turned this very interesting shade of red that I started to realize: "This isn't just because I could crush most bones in your body without even trying?"

"Could you really?" she asked, worried. I was an idiot.

"Could we get back to the reasons we aren't having sex, please? Because I don't think you'd have promised your mother unless you didn't want to in the first place and the last I had heard, you did want to. So now I'm confused and that doesn't really work for me."

"It's just…after you played human wrecking ball, I...I finally got that you really do have super powers. And Moms went over them and…it's just, Levi, I don't know what I'm doing and _everyone's_ going to see and that's…it's just…"

"We keep plenty of shit to ourselves. Once again, my little sister is in the pack. We're very good at not telling her things. Or each other things. The guys won't find out anything. I promise."

That seemed to help, because she let herself relax against me. I kissed her temple and waited for her to say something. When that didn't happen, I found myself saying, "It's okay if you don't know. Just lie back and let me blow your mind."

It made her laugh—and blush—which was the point. Not that it wasn't true. Not to brag, and not that I would ever tell Kara, but I had slept with more people than the rest of my pack combined. I had a few good ideas on how to make sure she enjoyed herself.

Eventually, she nodded. I had no idea what that meant (well, I knew what I wanted it to mean), so I just kissed her.

"You have a problem, you tell me about it." I meant it to sound reassuring, but it came out as sort of an order. Oh well. I think she understood. "I'll fix it."

"They really won't know?"

"They won't see a thing."

Kara nodded again and finally took off my shirt.

Not to brag, but, I really did blow her mind.

With time to spare, luckily, because Dinah came home twenty minutes earlier than she said she would, buzzed but still sober enough to glare really well. I don't know why she was glaring. We had both changed back after our very nice shower and Kara wasn't doing anything but lying on top of me (falling asleep on top of me) while we finished watching the movie.

There was this cute little confused happy smile on her face that even Dinah's glare couldn't ruin.

My sister got that, too, because she laughed quietly and wished me goodnight.

* * *

><p>Francy came home at four in the morning. She didn't turn on the light and she was really quiet, but I was a werewolf and someone was sneaking up on me. I woke up. And the light from the porch, which she quickly shut off, let me see enough of her face that if Kara hadn't been on top of me…but I had no choice but to let Francy slip into the bathroom undisturbed.<p>

In the morning, Kara woke me up when she went to the washroom to do whatever girls did in the morning. I joined Dinah in the kitchen, mostly so I could bug her.

It had been a vague worry of Brian's, what kind of places his sister waitressed at, but they needed the money so he could never really bring himself to ask. I didn't know many restaurants where you got home at four in the morning.

"You know, I've actually known a couple people who worked that late." Dinah just kept beating the eggs, ignoring me. "Of course, all those guys were pushing something."

Even then…only Will was out until the dawn. And that was because he couldn't sleep and not because you could do any business that late. Even junkies needed to sleep sometimes.

Dinah burst out laughing. "You think Francy could sell—she used to give me a health lesson before we smoked pot. She couldn't if she wanted to, which she doesn't. Preying on the misery of others isn't really her thing."

"What the fuck is there to do that late?"

"She walks home. I can't get her not to." I raised my eyebrows; that wasn't something I heard often. "I know. It's driving me nuts. I tried walking her home a couple times, but frankly, I couldn't function with that little sleep. I turned into a raging…anyway. She walks. That's why she's out so late."

"Doing what?" I asked.

"Ask her."

Kara came out of the shower just then. We hadn't taken a lot of pictures the day before, but we had enough to distract Dinah until Francy woke up in time for lunch. She and Kara did not need to be hugging like that (Dinah hit me with a frying pan). What? Just because I thought it was…touching, seeing them touching, didn't mean…whatever.

"You guys get to the Needle?" Francy asked.

"Yeah, it was pretty cool."

"Too tall," Kara shivered, curling into me as we sat around their living room eating the food I had totally made all by myself. Having her pressed up against me after last night was not helping my imagination calm down.

"Any plans for day?"

"It depends on how Levi's feeling."

"Too loud out there," I explained.

"Please," Dinah said. "Don't let him get out of showing you around. He can suck it up."

All heart.

"Shut up, Di. Just for that, you're going to have to visit next month."

"We're already coming back for Thanksgiving," Francy promised. Even though it was a(n expensive) pain for them to travel back.

"Good. Otherwise I have to listen to your brothers moan. Some of them telepathically."

"Baxter still hates it?"

"I think he's discovering there are some advantages," Kara said. "Didn't you say, Levi?"

"He's getting better."

No, he wasn't. He was a pain in the ass. Still, I did owe Brian one for the Bert thing, so I was trying not to kill his mouthy little brother. Plus, Baxter had started hanging around Bert a lot more lately, which was helping the kid, which made Will happy and Brian less likely to hit him, which was good for everyone, so Baxter wasn't entirely useless. Not that I was going to give him too much credit; I was sure it had been Judy's idea.

"I'm glad to hear it."

"Well, I guess we're leaving you two for the day," Dinah announced. "You have the directions for the restaurant tonight?"

We were taking them to dinner to thank them or some crap like that. They both headed out (sticking Kara and I with the dishes) but I couldn't just let it go. I was shit when it came to things like that. Instead, I asked Kara to give me a second and hustled after Francy.

Dinah left us (glared at me, but left us) as my imprint played with the strap of her purse and waited for me to get to the point.

"I heard you come in last night."

"Sorry. I tried to be as quiet as I could."

"That's not—I've never seen you wear that much make up."

"It's the fake eyelashes. They make it obvious I'm done up. But they're sort of a job requirement, so… why am I just relieved you're interested? Shouldn't I be telling you this is none of your business?"

"Wolf thing."

She knew; she felt it too. There was something between us now that meant we were a team.

"You can trust me with anything," I reminded her. "And I'm worried about you. You didn't come home for a year. It's not like I stopped worrying because you agreed to come to my birthday party."

Even the tiniest frown on her face felt like I was getting stabbed in the chest. Of course I worried.

"You think I'm a coward, don't you? For not...not being there for Brian. And...Dad."

"No," I promised. "I know you had good reasons."

"Reasons. Not good reasons. Not…" Her voice cracked. "He yelled at me. Before I left. And I know. Right? I _know_. I've heard the guys around La Push. Everyone's heard Paul and even your dad and even Uncle Quil though those girls are the cutest little things ever. It's just..."

I pulled her closer, let her whisper into my chest, "My dad never once raised his voice. Not even when Mom was sick. But I was going off to school and he...he yelled. Said I was abandoning them. Said...said it loudly. I didn't..."

"It's okay," I promised. "He didn't mean it. He was sick then, Francy. But he's doing better now."

He was. Stopping the transformation had not been kind to his body at all, but it had helped with some of his problems. Something had changed in him too, you could tell. He was going to meetings, now. Maybe he couldn't get better, but he wanted to, and that was more than the man had been able to think of for a long time now.

"I'm afraid to get my hopes up," she said as she pulled away. Fanning at her eyes, she said, "Great. Now I'm going to be late. I'll see you tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Now stop being such a good listener, imprint, and show your girlfriend my town."

"Only if you're sure you're okay."

"I'm okay as I have to be." She turned on her heel and walked away. Over her shoulder she called, "You'll see. Seattle is the best."

And because she looked like she needed it, I agreed that it was.

* * *

><p>Kara was waiting for me, most of the dishes washed up.<p>

"Is she okay?"

"I don't know." I could only shrug. "But, hey, Francy's tougher than she looks."

She'd have to be, to resist my charm all those years (to put up with Sam when he...she was tougher than she looked).

"Why do you call her Francy?"

"Because it's her name?"

"Most people on the rez call her Fran."

"It's what Dinah and Brian always called her. Habit, I guess."

"Like a sister," she filled in.

Yeah. I couldn't help thinking of Dad and Nessie, of the way my mother still didn't believe it after twenty years together. And the way I wouldn't care if Nessie was my sister, I would still totally…but I just nodded, because, yeah, Francy was totally my sister.

And if I occasionally wondered what she looked like naked, well, like I said, it was habit.

"You said to tell you…" Kara wasn't looking at me, which was never a good sign. "Do you really see her like a sister? Because she's my friend, Levi, and—I love you, but you keep…I know you said she's…but I…"

Shit.

So I took a deep breath, thought a bit, and then when that didn't seem to be working, just blurted out the first stuff that came into my head.

"Remember how I supposedly can't not tell Will things? Do you know how long it took me to admit I even liked the guy? He's been my best friend since I was thirteen, kept me out of jail more times than I can count, almost got me arrested more times than that, got me through high school, stopped me from—anyway, I don't think I've ever said he was my best friend out loud before right now. I still want to hit him most of the time we're together. Some people just...they give me headaches. And I admit, I don't always act maturely about that. Francy would be one of those people. With me?"

"So she's…your best friend?" Kara just sounded confused, which made two of us.

"She's my imprint. My world. I don't know what the fuck that means. But since I can't go around hitting her, I'm just going to have to worry about her instead. And deal with the headache she gives me. Okay?"

"Um..."

"You don't give me a headache. You are someone I am definitely not confused about. Ever. I love you. And if you need me to tell you that every day, I can do that."

"Okay." Kara took my hand. Even if it hadn't made much sense, she seemed to understand it was the truth. "Thank you."

"Good. Ready to go explore Seattle?"

And then my brilliant, wonderful, perfect girlfriend said, "Or we could just stay here."

I knew being in love with her was a good idea.

* * *

><p>We had to leave to meet up with the girls at the restaurant (sushi? Really? I liked my food cooked when I was on two legs—but, it was all you can eat). I was in a good mood.<p>

Francy was always great at making small talk; she could do it without any effort at all. Entertaining and informative and always interesting—of course my soul mate was a good conversationalist. Kara was finally starting to relax properly and she stuck mostly to talking to Francy, so she was having fun. I was vastly entertaining. And Dinah…well, if I hadn't been her brother, I don't think I would have picked up on how uninteresting she found Kara.

"It's not that I don't like her," Dinah said as we walked home. Kara and Francy were doing their really creepy, kind of cute female bonding-thing in front of us.

"Sure, Di."

"It's not. She's nice. She's just…Levi, her defining characteristic is that she likes you." My sister poked me in the arm. "And that just shows bad taste."

"Shut up."

"Stop giving me that look—I like her, all right. If she's the reason you're not a total dick anymore, I love her. Francy likes her…well, Francy likes everyone so she doesn't actually count but…Kara's okay. I'm nice to her. What more do you want?"

She promised she'd keep trying, so I let it go for now and we talked about Judy instead. Of course we were worried about how she was doing surrounded by us guys all the time ("watch your language more," Dinah said, "And try to remember some pants, sometimes") and glad she was cheering up lately. We didn't talk about Bert, of course, but she talked about all the ways I could help Brian more.

Eventually, Dinah said, "Francy totally blew you off this morning, didn't she?"

It was only then that I realized, yeah, she kind of had. "Oh."

"She does it to Brian, too. I don't think she even realizes she does it, but—I thought you'd push more."

"She's my imprint. I can't do anything she doesn't want." I remembered Marlena (who gave me wonderful ideas, but never any headaches), who had died before she'd ever asked about the pills or where the money came from or anything like that; ignorance being bliss, you could hardly blame her. That wasn't the way Dinah operated.

"I'm only telling you this because it's not safe for her to be walking home at four in the morning and I can't talk her out of it," Dinah said. Then she went on to explain that Francy waitressed at the steakhouse during the afternoons, worked at the pub some nights and then danced at the club after that.

"Danced?"

"Say it. We both know you want to."

"Like…exotic dancer?"

"Exotic because they let her wear a headdress sometimes. But no, Levi, she's not a stripper. She just…gets paid to dress up and dance in front of people like she would normally do on a Friday night."

"How are you cool with that?"

"Drinking all the time is expensive." I was very glad I wasn't Sam Uley at that moment, because Dinah's voice sounded like it could cut you into little pieces and enjoy it. "She says it's not bad, they try not to let guys touch the girls. And she's used to jackasses staring at her all the time."

"Okay."

Where were the vampires when I needed them?

* * *

><p>When we got back from Settle, I went on patrol with Brian. It was mostly my fault, for being an idiot; I gave him a note Dinah had given me beforehand, which meant he was super sappy and kind of horny and that just got under my skin. And because I was creeped out—and because he was her brother; if it was my sister, I would want to know—I might have told him what my sister had told me about his sister.<p>

He was not happy.

Duh.

_She's whoring herself out and she didn't think to maybe mention it to me?_

_She's not hooking. Geez, Brian. She's just…_

_Wearing so little that stripping isn't even an option?_

_I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this reaction is why she didn't tell you._

I hadn't known he could be angry with his sister and how he was beyond furious, angrier that I had ever seen him. Hurt throbbed underneath everything. He hadn't known. They used to be a team, but she hadn't told him a thing.

_She can talk to the others for hours, she can even talk to Dad for ten minutes at a time, but she barely has two words for me. She should have told me. I'm her brother. We could have talked it over and thought of something so she didn't have to do…_that_._

But their Dad wasn't the only one sure he knew better. I wasn't sure she had been right, though having imprinted on her I was inclined to believe she had been, but it was all too easy to imagine her not telling Brian because she didn't want to bother with an argument she was sure was wrong.

_When you calm down, y__ou should talk to her._

Dinah was the one who could make people talk, even when they didn't want to. Brain…not so much. He couldn't make Francy talk to him. So…it wasn't over.

In fact, because Baxter and Bert were taking the next patrol, it really wasn't over.

Baxter took even less kindly than I had to Brian insulting their sister.


	6. Chapter 6

If he hadn't been such a little bitch all the time, I would have been impressed at how well Baxter fought. He'd been a werewolf just under two months and he could fight just as well as his brother could after a year. I wasn't sure why—Baxter had always been more athletic, but it wasn't like Brian hadn't been athletic. Maybe it was because he was angrier than Brian had ever been—no, it wasn't that. If it was just about anger, then Will would have beaten us all. He was still better than the kids, but that was only because Will was pretty good at figuring out strategies ahead of time. If Baxter _suddenly_ attacked him, weight and strength on the kid's side, then...I hated to have to say it, but I don't think Will would have stood a chance. But it wasn't Will Baxter attacked without warning, it was Brian.

And the fight between the Uley brothers was not going in Brian's favor.

Bert stood there._ Uh, guys, I don't think this is a good idea._

I jumped in. Brian was defending himself, badly, so I went after the kid. It actually took me half a second, but then I had him by the scruff.

And that was that.

_Stop it,_ I said. It wasn't quite an Alpha order, but it meant he'd feel of a hell of a lot more pain very soon if he didn't listen. _Calm down._

_I'm just supposed to let him call my sister a whore?_

_That's not what I said,_ Brian defended himself. He felt bad enough as it was, you could tell, ashamed already about getting angry. I was glad he at least tried to defend himself. _Bax, I didn't mean—_

But the kid interrupted him with a few things that made me really regret that the kids could read Will's mind (though the creativity was from me, thank you very much).

_Enough. Baxter, Bert, finish the damn patrol. Brian and I are going home._

Brian could apologize once the kid cooled off. It was nice when people listened to me; the boys took off and Brian phased back, out of his brother's head. We started walking back to our clothes. Neither one of us was badly hurt, though Brian had a few scratches that would take a little while to heal. He'd be fine, though; the kid had been pissed, but not vicious.

"I didn't mean it like that," he said to me as we got dressed.

"I know."

"I was just surprised."

"Hey, I was too."

"Is she a stripper?" he asked carefully.

"Brian, I really don't want to know." Because if I knew, I'd have to kill someone and I think that would piss her off. "Dinah said she wasn't and Dinah isn't exactly known to sugar-coat things. Though I guess this means Will was right about her making a killing taking off her clothes."

Brian growled at me.

"We are not telling Will."

"I know."

Duh. I couldn't believe he had to remind me that, mourning his imprint or not, Will was never the most tactful of people. Francy as a 'dancer' would make his life too easy (and the rest of our lives unbearable). And there was also the possibility he'd oh-so-casually convince me to go see where she worked, knowing I couldn't resist knowing everything about her life, where it would take him less than twenty minutes to score if I was distracted watching her. And Will was not going back to that, no matter how badly I wanted him to do something besides mope, lately.

Fortunately, Judy was waiting at our house. Judy was the breath of fresh air we both needed.

"Who beat you this time?" she teased Brian, letting him sit down.

"Ha ha," he said as I threw a pillow at her and she giggled. Despite my fear, she'd been doing great lately. I guess Dad could do some things right. "Baxter."

She winced. "You wanna talk about it?"

"Not really."

"You want me to go yell at him for you?"

I snorted, Judy squealed in indignation and Brian managed to laugh at us. "Thank you, Judy. But I'm okay."

"You sure? Because he really is being a jerkface about you and I've been working on my yelling voice."

"I'm sure. I'll talk to him once he calms down."

"Okay. But since I was all offering to be helpful, you should probably help me convince Levi that I can totally take all those vampires he can't hunt down."

"Don't remind me," I growled.

* * *

><p>Judy actually did go yell at Baxter (well, Brian said later she called it a 'pep talk' because Judy couldn't get mad to save her life even if she had been working on her yelling voice) and she got the kid calm enough he talked to his brother. Briefly, but close enough. Both of them were of the opinion that what their father didn't know couldn't embarrass anyone and so that was one crisis solved.<p>

Unfortunately, since his problem was temporarily shelved, Brian thought he could meddle with mine.

"So how did everything go with Francy and Kara?"

I groaned. "She said Francy's like my sister."

"And why are you dating an idiot?" That would be Will, who I proceeded to punch. He didn't even react. It was no fun anymore; he barely seemed to feel it. His arm was probably numb at this point.

"Because I like her, asshole. I just..."

"Like imagining doing obscene things to Fran." Will snorted. "And sometimes even occasionally with Fran."

"Shut up. It's not like I want to cheat. I just..."

Really, really, really wanted Francy to be happy. No matter what.

And I knew she wasn't my sister.

"Maybe now that I'm getting some it'll go away."

"Finally," Will said, before saying to Brian, "You'll see; he's so much less of a brat afterwards."

"Fuck you."

"Is Kara okay?" Brian asked.

This was the part that kind of sucked. "A couple bruises on her hips, a few on her arms, but nothing too dark and only a couple." I had been as careful as I could.

"You need to get her on top," Will said.

"That's going to take a while. She's definitely not a natural."

"Levi," Brian scolded. What? It was the truth. Everyone had instincts; I happened to be great at following mine and I could tell when other people weren't. Kara was not good with instincts and she didn't have Marley's (or Dinah's, but I didn't think about that) experience so...it would just take some time.

It occurred to me as Brian glared that we should probably give Baxter some kind of sex talk; he'd broken up with his girlfriend back in June, but Ruth was still kind of into him (the growth spurt helped) and maybe if he was working out his aggression with her he wouldn't be taking it out on his brother. It was something to consider.

"And you're going to have to get used to not being in charge." Will sighed. "She's so fucking dead."

"I'll figure something out. You know, I think I'd rather be talking about why the hell nothing about Francy makes sense."

"You feel the same way towards her as you do to us, only it confuses you because she has...well, a chest," Brian announced.

I waited, but Will didn't say anything (I HATED this mourning thing), so finally I was the one who had to say it: "No, she doesn't."

I mean, she might have been my imprint, but that was just a fact. Right now, I had bigger tits than she did. Brian just closed his eyes, asking someone out there to give him strength and continued.

"It may not be sisterly, but I don't think it means you want to be with her either. You just aren't used to having female friends, so it's confusing you."

"I have so had female friends."

"No, you haven't. Levi, you barely...you have your weird co-dependent thing with Will and then the two of you have a bunch of people you play nice with for what it might get you later on."

Will said, "Levi isn't that cynical. He thought he could stand most of them."

I glared at my very annoying pack brothers, who both really sucked. I had never been co-dependent. And if I had been, I'd pick someone less annoying than Will to be co-dependent with, thank you very much.

"So you're the girl guru now?"

"I do have lots of girl friends. Well, I did before…" Before we all became a pack of loners. "I know what I'm talking about, Levi."

"And what is your wisdom?"

"You need to stop worrying that caring about her means you want to sleep with her. It doesn't—"

"The fact he spent years wanting to sleep with her does," Will pointed out.

"I wanted to sleep with Miss Carson back in high school. I grew out of that," Brian promised. "Just because—"

"Carson? Really?" I was totally impressed. I never would have figured her for Brian's type (mainly since Brian's type seemed to be my sister). The only thing I remembered about Carson, besides the fact she had been a shit teacher, was the baby doll voice and the big tits. "You could tell she would be down for some freaky shit."

"I think Brian has something important he wants to say," Will said as Brian turned a couple shades of red. Oops. I said, "Sorry."

"Just because you wanted to do something once," Brian continued after he sighed, "Doesn't mean you're stuck that way. I think you're just so used to assuming you want my sister that you've stopped thinking about whether you do or not. I think the reality is that she's your friend and you need to learn how to deal with having pretty girls as your friends."

Will said, "You slept with Dinah the first chance you got—how are you the expert on platonic relationships?"

This time it was Brian who hit Will. But—scarier—Will actually apologized. Well, since the world was ending, I guess I didn't have to worry about Francy anymore. That was nice.

Then Brian continued, "She was different. Or maybe she wasn't. Maybe I got confused, too. I cared about her so much I thought I was supposed to want her, even though she wasn't Ginger."

"You're not allowed to say that," I told him. "Because otherwise I keep having to organize patrols so that you and Bert avoid each other."

"I don't...I do love her. It's just...complicated. Like it is with Francy."

"Why can't she just be my sister?"

"Your sisters are cooler," Will said. "Did Judy tell you she learned how to balance a cookie on her snout?"

"Okay, awesome. How come we never learned to do that?"

"Because we aren't five," Brian offered.

"And Brian lacks the hand-eye coordination necessary."

"You're too cheap to let us buy cookies in the first place."

"All right," I announced. "We are not worrying about any problems that involve girls for the moment. Hit me with something else."

"Well, Baxter needs to start filling out his college applications soon—"

"I said no girls."

"_So_ he'll need help with that. Researching scholarships and writing personal statements and stuff like that. We...we'll have the money, right?" Will nodded and Brian moved on. "He's going to want to go to Seattle. He was always supposed to..."

"Make sure he applies to the community colleges too and we can deal with that mess latter," I decided. Baxter wasn't as smart as the twins; hopefully, he wouldn't get into the University of Washington. Or at least wouldn't get the scholarships that would make going possible. I could hope. "Who knows? Maybe by next September he could go away."

"May I remind the gathered crowd that this is my father's twenty-fifth year as a werewolf. Sure, no one else is quite that inept, but still. Kid won't be ready by September, Levi."

"We'll see. Judy—"

"Is from another planet."

"True. But he doesn't have to stop phasing, just phase carefully. I'm more worried about whether a werewolf could survive up in the Seattle. It was...tough."

"You're also a pussy."

Actually, it was because I had better senses than the rest. But let Will talk.

Brian cut in. "So we aren't talking about how your dad might stop phasing?"

"Isn't he bright?" Will asked.

"Does that mean holding hands and singing kumbaya is also out of the question?"

It made us both laugh; it might be why Will actually said something. "Chances are he's just going to screw it up."

"What happens if he doesn't?"

Since we were kids, Will wanted to leave La Push. He'd talk about far off worlds and then he'd talk about the big city and then he'd talk about any place that was not here—because Will had to leave La Push. When we were kids Will decided that it was being in La Push that was the reason his life was so fucked up—which wasn't exactly incorrect, really—and it was La Push itself he ended up hating with everything he had.

But he stayed. It ensured he ended up phasing, but he stayed after high school. It wasn't the money he was making because he could have worked up in the city and Aunt Rachel made him pay rent for living at home when he didn't go off to school like she wanted. Everyone said it was the pills, like he couldn't get just as high in Seattle.

It was Benjamin and the fact their father had superstrength.

So if Paul did go human...if Will was human, he'd have been gone before the sun rose the next day. He might leave me a note; he probably wouldn't have even said goodbye to anyone else. I'm sure he had everything he needed to take with him all planned out; he'd only been waiting his whole life for that moment.

But he wasn't human.

"Then maybe now he'll finally be able to hold down a damn job," Will snapped. "Why are we talking about this?"

"If Paul stops, there's just the Blacks and Seth," Brian said. His calm voice helped. "Jacob sounds like he really would stop then."

"My mom's still on the fence," I said. But I didn't think she was, not really. I think she was tired of being a werewolf, of watching all her friends get older without her, of being out of place...people knew there was something different about her. It was obvious. I think she was tired; she'd earned that. "I think she wants to stop, too, she's just worried about us."

But what about Seth?

* * *

><p>Now that they I had proven I could kill vampires, my parents occasionally left me in charge of Judy for a weekend and took off together. I didn't think about why, just I decided that I should check out the house in the forest. Call it a hunch. And when I picked up a strange smell the closer I got to Forks I knew I was brilliant.<p>

And my uncle was an idiot, but that was another story.

I could hear someone moving inside (of course) so I showed myself in.

"That was fast," a light, musical voice called.

"Wrong wolf."

She almost fell off the couch when she heard my voice; it was quite ungraceful of a vampire to almost drop the book she was holding. Eventually, she scrambled upwards, trying to cover those perfectly creamy, perfectly toned legs of hers. Shame.

Her name was Nessie. She was my father's soul mate—and she was wearing my uncle's shirt.

It was long enough that she could have been wearing something underneath, but I doubted it somehow.

"Hello," she said dumbly.

"Nice shirt."

"My clothes are in the wash." I could hear the machine going in the background, but I smirked until she was beat red and nervously pushing her hair behind her ear. "Seth should be coming back soon, if you wanted to wait around."

"Thanks. He'll be awhile though. He's at my cousin's, getting breakfast. After patrol this morning, he was _famished_."

"Werewolves are always hungry," she said flatly. Then: "Would you like something to eat?"

"Sure."

I followed her to the kitchen where she started pulling out boxes of cereal. Considering how I had gone most of my life without seeing her, she knew her way around easily enough.

"There are eggs in the fridge if you wanted to make them."

"I'm good with this. Thanks."

It was way creepy eating while she stared at me like that. Even if I couldn't help laughing at the way she kept trying to keep the gigantic shirt from slipping off her shoulder.

"Sorry about calling you in the middle of the night," I said. I really did mean it. "I was just getting kind of desperate."

"I understand. I did ask Alice to be on the lookout...but it really doesn't work that way."

"Oh well. Thanks for trying. Tell me if does work."

"Of course."

She was starting to relax. I couldn't have that. Between bites, I asked, "You're good friends with my uncle, right?"

Unfortunately, she had stopped blushing. It took all the fun out of it.

"I'd like to think so."

"Maybe you can help me out then. See, my parents have decided to hand me the pack, which means they're going to retire soon."

She interrupted me, frowning. "Retire? How is that possible?"

I ignored her. "It occurred to me, if I'm going to be in charge, I need to know who I'm in charge of. Seth is barely around enough to ask, but I was hoping he might have said something to you—is he going to stop phasing with the rest of Dad's pack?"

Nessie just blinked.

"I..." She swallowed and managed to continue without the warbling. "He hasn't mentioned anything about this to me."

"Well, could you talk to him about it? I kind of don't want to have him just flip a coin to decide if he stays or not. Though knowing Seth...planning's not really his strong suit."

"Of course. So...your parents are going to be human?"

"Probably."

"I imagine that will be a big change for them."

I shrugged, but she seemed interested enough. We were still talking about the disruptions to my parents' lives that being human would cause when my uncle returned from patrol. Since he would have heard me, he wasn't surprised to see me there, happily munching on his cereal, even if he didn't look happy. Not at all.

It probably didn't help that she spoke first and she didn't sound happy either. She sounded...well, it made me feel kind of bad, listening to her sound like that: "Are you going to die?"

"No," he answered quickly. Firmly. Well, that answered my question.

Seth usually laughed when someone asked him something kind of dumb. He wasn't laughing now. In fact, he turned to look at me and it was suddenly brought to my attention that Grandma's glare wasn't just a mother-daughter thing.

I could tell when I wasn't wanted—I took off.

* * *

><p>When Kara and I got to my house around dinner time, it was to find my uncle had made dinner for all of us. Judy was happily helping him, practically bouncing around the house. But we were supposed to have the house to ourselves!<p>

"I thought you would be busy tonight," I said as I hastily let go of Kara.

"So did I."

"Nessie had a plane to catch," Judy brought me up to speed.

Crap. I could hope she had a plane to catch before I had showed up, but my uncle's unsmiling face suggested that this was my fault. I was screwed.

After dinner, he took me outside so we could have a little talk. I didn't know he could get that angry.

"Bringing your girlfriend over while your sister's around isn't appropriate, Levi. Don't let it happen again."

"Seth—"

"And you do not scare my friends, understand?"

"Hey, I'm not the one sneaking around Dad's back."

My uncle rolled his eyes. "You brought Kara over tonight because...?"

"Okay, fine. I'm sneaking around behind Dad's back. I'm a teenager. I can do stupid shit like that."

"Not while you're supposed to be taking care of your younger sister. Of course, you're right."

Somehow, I didn't like the sound of that.

Seth continued:

"I guess I should stay here and look after you guys."

I was being cockblocked by my own uncle? Damn.

"Oh, come on—"

"I'm not done," he said. He was back to being furious; hell, I had no idea how he managed not to phase being as pissed as he was. "I don't know where you get off thinking you're entitled to push people around, but it ends now."

"I wasn't—"

"She has helped us, so many times—you think you know her because you know what her father was? You don't know anything about her, so you stay away from her."

"Mom—"

"No matter how your mother feels about Nessie, she has never been anything less than a hundred percent polite to her face. It's common fucking courtesy not to call people in the middle of the night, not to invite yourself over to someone's house without asking and not to try to humiliate and terrify a woman who has done nothing but support us."

"The pack needs to know—"

"I don't want to listen to your excuses. The _pack_ could have just asked _me_ if it was that damn important. You need to grow up if you want to lead them."

"I am—"

"I'm not finished," he snapped. "How long have you been a werewolf, Levi?"

"A year. And—"

"You're the biggest wolf I've ever seen. And you're incredibly strong for your age. I've been a wolf since I was _fourteen_—the next time you upset Nessie, it will be your last day being anything close to Alpha. Understand?"

Right that second I think he could have done it, too.

"I thought she was dad's imprint, not yours," I grumbled.

"It's called respect and you show it to everyone." He shook me; he made sure it hurt. "Understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good." He sighed. "I'm sorry. You just...you need to learn. Fast, if your parents are going to stop."

Whatever.

"I should tell Dad about her," I muttered. I meant to say it under my breath, but Seth had ears that were almost as good as mine—at least it didn't make him mad. I think I wanted to avoid making him angry.

"You have no idea what being an Alpha really means do you?"

But he finally stopped being the changeling version of my uncle and started being Uncle Seth, who let me drink beer when my parents wouldn't and always had the best stories, again. "You guys have chocolate ice cream? Judy and I made brownies, but they're a little dry."


	7. Chapter 7

It had nothing to do with proving to my uncle that I was a good Alpha. If my father was okay with me being Alpha (and I thought he might be) then what did Seth know? He'd never been in charge—hell, my parents had refused to leave La Push even though it would have made being together so much easier just to avoid putting Seth in charge. He had no idea what he was talking about.

Still, a guy likes to make sure his pack is looked after.

So the next week when Seth was on patrol I dragged Will to the Uley house so we could make sure Baxter didn't accidentally break some poor unsuspecting girl in half.

Brian met us on the steps. "We don't have to do this, Levi."

"Would you rather endanger the women of La Push by leaving it undone?"

"Fine. But if he phases on you, I'm not responsible."

"Hey, say the word and I can back off."

Brian's mouth twitched. "And endanger the women of La Push?"

That was my boy.

The chances of Bert sleeping with anyone—or, frankly, talking to them—were so remote it wouldn't even have been funny to joke about it. The kid could barely manage to talk to Judy and my sister was the most sociable person on the planet and barely even a girl.

But Baxter Uley was probably the most normal of us all (he went to class but he wasn't going to be valedictorian; he never pissed off the cops but they wouldn't give him the key to the city, either). Before becoming a werewolf he'd gone through a bit of a phase, tried to cut himself off from most of his friends, but they were the forgiving sort. Most of them still talked to him. Besides Judy, he probably had the most interaction with the outside world. Even if he was a little bitch he wasn't going to be repulsive to the opposite sex. Not looking the way we all did.

Since he refused to talk to his father anymore it was up to us, as the older members of his pack, to make sure he knew all about the birds and the bees. Or the wolves and the trees, as it were.

"Hey, Artie," I called as we stepped into the hall to find only the three youngest Uley boys and Sam in the main room. "Tell your brother we want to see him in the backyard."

"Why?"

"It's a surprise."

The kid scampered off to their room to get his brother, while Brian explained to me, "He wants to be Art, now."

"Does he really think that's going to make his songs less annoying?" Will asked.

But the kid usually remembered to get me snacks after patrol, so I was more forgiving of the rather catchy ditties that his brothers ended up getting stuck in all our heads.

"I liked the last one. Artie's getting better." And since he was making money playing around Forks and La Push, Will let it go.

"Tell me you're not changing the patrol schedule again," Baxter said, bitching before he was barely out of the sliding door. "Levi, we do need to sleep some—"

"Sit down, shut up and listen. It's not about the patrol schedule."

"This is important, Bax," Brian insisted. It didn't convince his brother, who looked at us suspiciously, but he did sit down on the picnic table they had in the back. The three of us stood around him, not trying to scare him, just wanting to make sure we were all there to support him.

"Sometimes," I began, "When a little wolf loves a girl, he finds himself having certain urges."

"What?"

"These urges are perfectly natural," Brian assured him. "Sometimes confusing or distracting, but perfectly natural."

"And if you know how to deal with these urges safely," I continued, "They can even end up being pleasurable."

"Are you trying to talk to me about sex?"

The horror in his voice was absolutely priceless.

"Think of yourself as a tennis racket," I said.

"Or a ping pong paddle, in your case," Will suggested. "Not that it matters, of course. It's all in the swing, anyway."

Baxter sighed. "Could you just skip to the beatings, okay? That would be a lot less painful."

"We're not going to hurt you," Brian said quickly.

"Why would we hurt you?" Will demanded.

"Because I think you're all insane," Baxter said. "Since Levi went stampeding through my memories, I know for a fact you all know I don't need this. So can I go now?"

"Kids these days," I complained to Will. "They bang one chick and they think they know everything."

"Don't talk about her like that," Baxter growled at me as he stood up.

"Or what?"

Brian was between us, which sort of ruined my fun. Let him try to take me out. It would be cute for a whole five seconds before I killed him. "Bax, this really is important so—"

"Why should I listen to the three of you? The first time I had sex I wasn't drunk, she wasn't drunk and no one spent the whole time apologizing to anyone. Forgive me for not wanting your advice about anything to do with sex or relationships or _anything_."

"I was high, not drunk," Will snapped.

"I just wanted to make sure she was okay," Brian muttered.

The three of them looked at me. What? "She wouldn't have had sex with me if she hadn't been drunk."

"Why do we listen to him?" Baxter demanded of his brother.

Brian sighed. "Sometimes I don't know."

"Sit down," I told the kid. "Now. Playtime's over. You know what happens when you're human. Fine. You were smart about it before; I'll give you that. Smarter than we were? Well—but you're a werewolf now so shut up and pay attention."

The kid stared at me for a long moment (he was getting too fucking tall—he and his brother were the same height and it kind of pissed me off). He said, "This isn't necessary. I'm not interested in humans anymore."

"Well, you might change your mind. If you do, we don't want you killing anyone. So listen."

It wasn't that we ended up hurting the girls we loved; they ended up bruised a lot of the time, but those were just superficial. They were a reminder that we could do a whole lot worse if we weren't careful. So we had a few tricks to make sure we stayed careful.

Brian and Dinah managed because to say she wore the pants in their relationship was too grossly underestimate how much she was in charge. The most effective way of keeping everyone happy and bruise-free came from them.

With Marlena things had been a little more complicated. She got off on the way she could make him lose control and if Will had a problem with leaving his girlfriend black and blue, well, he already had plenty of other problems. It was a good thing you couldn't wallow around Marley. She'd pout and make you stop (she'd once emptied a cup of beer on me; I stopped being a bitch and that was that; she'd been awesome that way). The wallowing wasn't just because she'd left him; it was remembering without her around to tell him he was being an idiot.

Kara and I hadn't had much time (or space, _Seth_) to figure out a system yet and maybe I was a little concerned with spelling out everything Baxter could and could not risk because I wanted to go over it myself. We did manage to cover most of the basics before the worst thing ever happened.

"What's going on back here?"

The four of us froze; the chipper voice was terrifying. Not that Judy sounded upset; she sounded far too curious considering she was way too young to even know that sex existed.

"Nothing."

It was nice when the pack united.

"You're not having a pack meeting without me and Bert, are you?" she asked as she came forward. I hated when she looked like that; there needed to be an alpha order against pouting. "Because that's not very nice. I'm sure we could help somehow."

"This just isn't for you, okay? When you're older—"

Judy actually growled at me. Even as a werewolf, my kid sister was pretty small. She didn't clear six feet and she still had more baby fat than muscles on her. That said, she had a pretty fearsome growl. It almost made me jump.

Go Jubes.

Thankfully, Baxter spoke up then. "Timmy's decided the basketball is some priceless orb that could destroy the world if it falls into the wrong hands. So if we want to play..."

"I'll go get it back."

But she looked so miserable I really couldn't blame the guy for the way he hurried to add, "I'll tell you later. Just you need to hurry before he puts it in some secret cave, never to be heard from again."

Judy nodded and went into the house. I couldn't help sighing.

"If she starts thinking about sex, someone had better kill me," I announced.

"So that just proves no good deed goes unpunished," Will complained.

"She's so going to tell Dinah," Brian said. The three of us shivered.

"Well," Baxter said as he rose, "After that display of maturity, I'm sure glad I have you three to guide me through the rest of my werewolf life."

* * *

><p>There was absolutely nothing surprising about learning Dinah could growl just as well as I could.<p>

"Sex talk?"

"Shut up."

"Could you not make our little sister feel like she's intruding on your boys only club? It's a crappy thing to do to her, Levi."

"So you're saying I should have told our baby sister that hickies are a convenient way of marking her territory without resorting to the more violent methods that will probably pop into her head?"

"What?" Uh oh. "Brian's been marking me as his _territory_?"

"Only sort of. It's not…it's just a wolf thing, Di. It's why he and Bert can't patrol together. They get along just fine normally, but when they're both wolves and Bert starts thinking about you, it just really gets under Brian's skin. He can't help it."

"Brian and Bert can't patrol together?"

Why yes, I had a shovel and I was digging myself in deeper.

"Only sort of."

"Tell your pack they better not fight over me."

"It's not really about you," I said because it was the truth. And I didn't want to order the guys around. Well, you know, not all the time.

"That's why it's so annoying. Honestly, just because you're territorial and aggressive doesn't mean you can't occasionally use you words_._"

"I can't believe Brian didn't tell you."

That was totally to cover my ass. Of course Brian hadn't told Dinah. Brian wasn't stupid—Dinah wouldn't find it romantic or sweet or anything other than completely irritating that two guys thought she was worth fighting over.

"Neither can I. He gets _pissy_ about the way I talk about his imprint and, meanwhile, he can't even patrol with mine?"

"You talk about his imprint?"

"He talks about his imprint." When Dinah wanted to, she could keep her voice so calm I couldn't tell what she was thinking. It was very annoying. "Then he gets annoyed when I point out she's a little gangster wannabe."

"Mature."

"She scratched some girl. I'm sorry, but if you're going to get into a fight, do it properly. Punch, kick—don't scratch, don't bite and never, _ever_ pull any hair."

I laughed because those were pretty good rules. Judy might have been our affirmative action girl, but at least she fought the way we did. Not as well, but in our way. I guess it helped we didn't have hair to pull.

"Have you told Brian this?"

"Of course. But for some reason, he disapproved of me giving his imprint a few tips on how to fight. Now, Bert might have all the social graces of a maladjusted spree killer, but he is always polite. And he knows how to throw a proper punch. Sure, he's not a supermodel good will ambassador type like Dad's, but my soul mate totally beats Brian's. Right?"

Bert was weird, but he was also mine, so I had to agree.

"Good." Dinah sighed. "I thought relationships were supposed to get easier as I got older."

"They seem easy enough to me." Dinah just laughed at me—she wasn't bad at calling me on my shit. "Whatever. My girlfriend's happy. She's in love with your best friend and finally getting used to the pack. Everything's fine. And Will only thought about killing himself twice so far this week."

"Is he really...?"

"Right now he might actually collect garbage the rest of his life."

"At least he has a job."

"Di, it gives him headaches. The smell is physically painful for us. But he just...but I don't even know what to push him to do instead."

"Why don't you just ask him what he was planning to do before?"

"What?"

"Well, it's not like Marley was going to work." She snorted; I growled. "I just meant...they would have expected her to stay home. So he would have been working. And knowing Will it would have been decent money so ask him what he was going to do."

"That...that could work."

"Someone in this family has to occasionally come up with a good idea." Fine. She made me laugh. "And the next time you want to ignore our sister—Don't."

* * *

><p>The problem with Will was that I never knew how to deal with the problem that was Will. It was too personal; hell, most of the time it felt more personal than my own problems did. Last year I had learned that I might be able to handle my pack, but sometimes when it came to my cousin I couldn't handle it alone.<p>

So I let Sam help me deal with it.

And, yes, I was a shitty friend. Now that he needed me, now that nothing in his life made sense, I spent more time with Kara or my family or Brian than I did with Will. It was just so damn depressing being around him all the time and except for really bad nights, it's not like he wanted the company. After work, he was content to sit at home, watch his brother do his homework and ignore the rest of the world.

Seth went to work on him, too. I was the one who coaxed out Will's plans with Marley (well, I got Bert to do it because Will refused the kid absolutely nothing) and then the old men tried convincing him she'd have wanted him to get off his ass and follow the plan. Sam eventually had my Aunt Rachel threaten to kick her son out of her house if he didn't start pretending to try. It sort of worked, I guessed.

He couldn't spend the rest of his life avoiding the future, right?

Then, to Will's (and everyone's, really) great surprise, my uncle finally managed it.

And then there were three.

I'm not sure what my parents would have decided. It didn't matter.

Finally, finally, _finally_, the vampires came.

* * *

><p>Bert caught the scent first. He was on a patrol with Baxter and, quite frankly, Bert totally panicked at first. Then Baxter realized what the scent was, calmed the kid down and told him to howl for the rest of us.<p>

Brian and I were trying to get Will to come with us to Forks, maybe even see a movie or something relatively normal, when we heard the noise. We almost didn't believe it; I had spent most of the past two months begging the Powers That Be for a vampire—I just assumed one would never show.

So, it took a second to realize what was happening. But the second we did...even Will moved out that door faster than a human could see.

_What is it? _I demanded the second I was phased. My parents and my uncle had already transformed, but they let the kid show me what he had picked up. I couldn't believe our luck. It wasn't just one vampire. It was two!

_Could you contain yourself, please?_ Will said. _I am not watching you jerk—_

Judy phased then so Will shut up and I got down to business.

_You three in?_ I asked my family.

_We'd rather watch,_ my mother said.

_She's got this cheerleader uniform—_

_Uh, child here!_ I practically shouted.

After a mental oops from my father and quick debate between my parents, my uncle was ordered to join us, with strict orders not to put himself in danger trying to protect us. His nonchalant promise was actually kind of insulting. I thought he liked me a little better than that.

_Focus, kid_, he shrugged. _Let's not test how much I meant it when I said I wouldn't try saving your stupid ass. _

_We're not going to need it, _I promised.

_Good. Head north._

He'd already caught up with Bert and being the better tracker he was telling us where to go. Well, I could accept that.

Mom and Dad went to block their escape route and I turned my attention to my pack.

_All right, Judy guards the way back into La Push. Brian's with me, Will in charge of the kids—call if you need help, but otherwise, let Baxter take point while you and Bert distract the stupid thing. And remember—_

_Bert's pretty strong on the left, Baxter's faster and I'm the weakest fighter. Thank you, Levi. I remember. I don't mind not getting my hands dirty._

But he could reminded them what needed to be done when their instincts didn't. The three of them should have no problem at all.

_You don't have hands,_ Judy said. She sounded so miserable that I wanted to cringe. Instead, I turned to Brian. _You want this one?_

_After all this time complaining, Levi, I don't think you're going to be able to stop yourself. _But he was laughing at me. _Take it. I don't care._

_Thanks._

I really wanted this kill.

Still…_How'd you like the plan so far, old man?_

_Could work_, my father said. Behind his thoughts I could feel Mom, trying not to run after us even though every part of her was screaming to move. No way in hell I was going to get myself killed in front of her. _Remember, attack from the sides._

_Don't let them get their arms around you_, I told my pack.

We crossed I don't know many miles in a split second and then Brian and I were on top of our guy. It was a male, this time, not like the little girl vampire I had destroyed all by self this summer. He looked like he should have been reading poetry at a coffee shop. Too bad he was going to be dead soon. Deader. Whatever.

_You first,_ I said to Brian.

The vamp dodged his attack, which was the point. It threw him off balance and then I was jumping at him, snapping at the arm he had used to keep himself balanced. He managed to dodge that too, but Brian was attacking from the other side again and this time he managed to get some teeth on a hand.

Handless vamp roared with rage. In the back of my mind I could hear a pretty steady commentary from Will, who sounded impressed with the kids...the three of them would be all right.

Brian and I split, circling around the vampire, so he couldn't watch us both at once. Brian feigned a jump but the vamp didn't fall for it.

_I hate it when they have brains._

_Levi, can I—?_

_Judy, just guard the town._

_Dad—_

It was a mistake. He wasn't really my father, just then. He was just the Alpha—the vampires had to die and I was the one who could do it. _Guard the town_, he ordered my sister and she shut up and did what she was told.

And our vamp still wasn't down and I was getting annoyed. _Ready?_ I asked Brain.

And then we rushed him. I got there just a second before, so the vamp was turning to stop me. I had to twist to get out of his way, so I didn't get to do much but claw at his arm, but Brian got his teeth into the thing's shoulder. Bye bye. I went after his legs as he tried to throw Brian off. It was hard for them to run off without legs.

After we had torn the bastard to pieces, we turned our attention to the kids.

_Stop playing with your food_, I ordered. _Just kill it._

_It's mostly dead, _Will said. But Baxter did as I asked and tore it up.

_So who brought the lighter?_

_Judy, you want to go grab that?_

_Can I light them on fire? _she asked as she turned to race home.

_One of them, _I promised. I let Bert have the other because I didn't want him feeling left out either (and since I was in such a good mood, I even admitted Baxter wasn't totally useless).

Lighting the vampire on fire cheered up Judy enough that she forgave me for keeping her back—she didn't even notice Dad had been sharp with her before. My pack headed over to my house to celebrate and my parents thoughtfully bought pizzas for everyone (and Seth stayed out just to make sure there were no other vampires around).

* * *

><p>Before my mother took me to work the next morning, my parents sat me down at the kitchen table. I already knew.<p>

"We're going to stop."

"It's time," my mother said. She was holding my father's hand like it would help. "We can't look like your siblings forever."

"You guys sure?"

"No." Dad laughed. "That never stopped us before."

"And Seth,,,"

"It'll be your pack," Dad said. "He doesn't want it. But he doesn't want to stop just yet. Think of him as your, well, crazy uncle. Do not under any circumstances call him a lone wolf."

"That's just stupid," my mother agreed.

"And he might end up making a costume."

"Okay." Since my mother was around, I didn't ask if Dad knew why my uncle didn't want to stop phasing. It seemed rude. "So what's happening with you guys?"

The first couple of wolves to stop phasing took two to three months to stop phasing. Hell, Brady had once gotten busy with work and hadn't phased for a month and a half and still had been a wolf. But ever since we had phased...things had been different. When the older guys tried to stop, well, now they seemed to do it a lot faster than before. Even Paul had only taken a month and there was no way that should have happened. It was like nature was telling them it was time.

Time to go somewhere, stay calm and finally stop.

"You can't stay calm at work," I told Mom. They had earned a vacation. "I'm there,"

She laughed and agreed and told my dad, "And the way you baby talk those engines isn't going to help you stop either."

"Hey, they respond to my cursing."

"Sure. I guess we're going on an actual vacation, Jake."

"You need to go separately," I added.

This very obvious fact seemed not to have occurred to my parents, who sat there staring at me like I had just announced I was a leprechaun (which, I probably shouldn't joke about because, who knew, right?).

"The whole point is to stay by yourself," I reminded them when their brains couldn't digest what I was saying. "So you can't go together."

"What?"

"You have to take turns."

Again, they didn't seem to understand the obvious. My parents were dumb today.

"One after the other?" Dad said slowly.

"It's not like you'd be alone. People can visit. You just should stop one at a time."

"I guess I go first," Mom said.

But they didn't look very happy about it.

"Or," she said, "We could just try not to piss each other off."

"Like we do that," Dad said.

"I could spend a month with my mouth taped shut."

"I could just wear ear plugs," Dad teased.

"It makes more sense for me to go first," my mother admitted. "That way you can look after everything while I'm gone and in case anything goes wrong here at least you'll still be phased. And this way we can keep in touch without losing our tempers."

"I don't like it," Dad said frankly.

"Good. You better not enjoy being a werewolf without me."

"We'll stay in opposite sides of the house, but we aren't not going to stop together." Dad stopped, having confused himself. "Or we are...we're stopping at the same time, Leah."

"So says the Alpha wolf?"

And because Mom's voice was doing that _thing_ that really creeped me out, I left them to talk it over. Or whatever.

They decided they'd tried to stop right after Thanksgiving, so they'd be either home by Christmas or have failed by then. Seth would stay with us until then (and I wasn't to be a jerk).

And in the new year...I would be Alpha. Officially.

_Awesome!_


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Last one until after Christmas. Stupid real life.

* * *

><p>The girls came home for Thanksgiving at the end of November, possibly because Artie wrote a ten minute sort of epic whiny rock ballad begging his sister to come back. Hey, whatever worked. They came back a whole day earlier than I expected, too. When I turned up at my house after a patrol, my sisters were catching up on the porch.<p>

"You look disgusting," Dinah declared.

Which was my cue to hug her. I wasn't that sweaty.

We could hear the old people inside. My parents were having a party for all the old members of their pack tonight (some sort of tearful goodbye) and Dinah turning up out of the blue didn't mean they could just scrap that plan. Dinah wouldn't have wanted them to, so she invited me to sit down and we started to catch up.

"Judy was telling me you aren't letting her fight vampires."

"Uh, yeah. She's never getting near vampires," I promised. Judy stuck out her tongue, but quickly put it away and sat up straighter. Beside me, Dinah sighed. Bert was coming up the drive with his parents.

He did his best to hide the flowers, but us werewolves could smell them. Suddenly, Judy was trying to hide behind me (probably so Dinah wouldn't notice the thumbs up she was giving her friend).

Dinah had half a second to wonder what was going on before Bert thrust the flowers in her face. "Here," he muttered. "I got you these."

Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. Dinah looked to me for help but I was trying not to laugh so all I could do was shrug. Bert was my problem—except when he gave her presents. That was her problem.

"You shouldn't have," she said flatly.

"Yeah."

But he just kept holding them out to her. I thought Dinah could have waited him out, but I guess she couldn't stand him just standing there, gazing at her adoringly. She snatched the flowers (where in the world had he gotten them at this time of year?) from his hands.

"Get inside, Bert."

"Sure."

Then he loped up the steps, casual as ever. "Thank you," Di muttered under her breath because she had to say it. I think she was hoping he couldn't hear, but his goofy grin made me think he had.

So I started laughing.

Dinah threw the flowers at my head.

"I hate werewolves," she declared.

* * *

><p>Fortunately for Dinah (and those of us who had to be around Dinah), Brian showed up with his family soon afterwards. While they were reacquainting their tonsils, I went inside to get some more food. It was way too crowded in the house, but that had never stopped us before. It was only when Sam said it was time for him to get the twins to bed that we realized how late it had gotten. Pack gatherings, even when most of the old people weren't werewolves anymore, were always long affairs.<p>

But since the rest of us weren't twelve...I took my pack and my girlfriend, told them to grab whatever food was left, and we all headed to the beach.

Judy led the way, Bert and Baxter on either side of her, the two boys letting her use their arms to lift herself off the ground. Her laughter rang through the air. The boys let her amuse herself—they were good kids. Tonight, Kara holding my hand, I was feeling mellow.

Dinah and Brian had also taken their little _display_ to the rear of the group, so it was hard to complain.

Kara didn't seem inclined to talk (being around everyone all at once meant she needed a moment or two to adjust), which kind of left me bored. I couldn't listen to Brian and Di for obvious reasons, but eavesdropping on Francy and Will wasn't very entertaining. They were going over scholarships for Baxter and the cost of college tuitions and if water-proof mascara counted as a business expense...if it hadn't been the only thing keeping Will sane lately, I would have ordered him to knock it off. It was depressing.

Fortunately, Kara eventually recovered her power of speach.

"What are we going to do on the beach?"

"Put the kids to work."

And I did. The girls were shivering. Brian and I were quite eager to help keep our girlfriends warm, but despite how much Baxter loved his big sister there was only so close he wanted to get. So, it was bonfire time.

"Better?" I asked Francy as she sat between her younger brother and her best friend.

"Thank you, yes."

So around the fire we sat, munching on the last of the food. I had Kara on my right (well, in my lap) and Will beside me, Brian and Dinah curled together beside him. On Kara's other side, Bert, Judy and Baxter were fighting over who got the most space on the log (Judy won—damn straight).

"So what now, oh glorious Alpha?" Dinah asked.

I flipped her off, though it was true none of my usual suggestions would work on this crowd. Not with my little sister here.

My little sister had an idea.

"We can play truth or dare."

There were a chorus of groans. I was not the only who wished she was kidding. Neither Will nor I had ever played sober and it brought back too many memories of things we didn't want to bring up around the others.

"We're mostly related," Francy said. Bless her—though it made me kind of curious about how she normally played. "It'll just be weird, Judith."

But Judy's face started looking sad and I wasn't the only one who couldn't resist.

"We can play," Dinah said. "We just need some ground rules. No incest being the big one."

If only we could refuse Dinah.

All of us had to agree, eventually, powerless against my two sisters when they were united (at least it wasn't just me anymore). We all agreed to abide by Dinah's rules and her insistence that anything over PG-13 would get vetoed.

"I wanna go first," Judy volunteered. "Dare me to do something."

"I'll do it," I offered. It was only right, after all. "Okay?"

Our referee nodded her agreement.

"Okay, Judy. Stand up. I dare you to come here and punch me as hard as you can."

Brian was making cutting gestures, but I ignored him, the way I ignored Dinah and Francy saying they didn't think it was a good idea. Dinah wanted our little sister to fight vampires? Dinah didn't know what she was talking about. Bert pulled Kara away from me—he did know what would happen. Judy did, too, because she looked nervous.

"Levi—"

"As hard as you can. Right in the face." I gestured to my jaw. It was big enough she couldn't miss. "Go right ahead."

"Shut him up," Dinah said.

The guys in my pack weren't looking. Judy took a deep breath, pulled her fist back, and swung as hard as her 140 pound frame could handle. It wasn't enough to make me flinch, even though the sound echoed in the night.

"You're going to lose teeth like that," Will said.

"Uh." There would be a bruise, but nothing more. "That's why she doesn't fight vampires."

"Your turn, Judy," Dinah said with a look that would have made people smarter than me run away. She had to learn. It was not that I didn't want to give the kid a chance. I did. But I wasn't about to get her killed, either.

Judy flounced back to her seat, where the shaking wasn't too noticeable between the guys. I felt terrible, but it had to be done.

"Francy, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"How do _you_ know when you really like someone?"

"Well..." my imprint said, "I knew I liked Dinah when she blamed Brian for spilling the paint all over the couch."

"Hey!" Brian said. "I remember that. That was really mean."

"We were five and she was a girl. Solidarity," Dinah said. "But I suppose I could make it up to you if it really hurt your feelings."

While they got all mushy, Judy protested. "That's so totally not what I meant."

"You should ask better questions, then," Francy said. But the power of my sister's pout was astounding. "Well, with Carl—"

"What happened to Fred?" Brian asked.

"Shut up, sweetie," Dinah said as Baxter growled at his brother. Francy pretended not to notice. "We broke up. I started dating Carl because...we've known each other socially for a while. There wasn't really a single moment or anything that made me decide we should be together, but he asked me out, I gave him a chance and everything worked out. We both want the same things and we're attracted to each other and we get along."

"That's so unromantic," Judy complained.

Francy shrugged. "Dinah, my love. Truth or dare?"

My older sister picked dare, obviously (Dinah always picked dare) and ended up running into the freezing cold water. Her shrieks were amusing even if I could have done without the way she divested Brian of his shirt once she came back.

"Sorry," Francy said as Dinah threw her wet sweater at her friend.

"You're so not. All right..." Dinah looked around for her victim as she snuggled into Brian. Her eyes settled on me. I was so dead. "Baxter."

The surprise unnerved me (was that the point?). Baxter had been fighting with Bert over some cookies they'd managed to save, but he stopped now to pick dare.

"Sit cross-legged on the ground. All right. How much can you lift?"

"A lot?" he offered. "Weights are too easy, so—"

"That's nice. I dare you to pick up my sister, put her in your lap and keep her there until, well, I would say until my brother stops being an ass, but we don't have until the end of the world, so just until the end of the game will do."

He blinked. I growled. I think it was Will who snorted, though it was definitely Brian who laughed. Asshole.

"Fine."

And that loathsome perverted rat bastard had the fucking nerve to put his hands around my little sister's waist and with a, 'hope you don't mind,' picked her right up and...

"What happened to the rules against incest? Or mental images I don't need? Or...something?" I demanded.

"Aw, Di," Francy cooed, "I think you made his eye twitch."

Judy was settling herself in properly, squirming around in a way that she shouldn't, pulling Baxter's arms around her and leaning back against him (she dug her toes in the sand, wiggling them around because she was soooo way too young for this kind shit). The kid did not look the proper amount of terrified.

"I'm not too heavy, am I?" Judy asked looking back at him and he had the NERVE to let his mouth twitch.

"I don't mind."

"Ugh. Something's poking me in the butt."

As she reached underneath her, I might have killed the kid (Brian had enough brothers; he could stand to lose one), except my vision kind of went white with rage.

"Levi?" Kara's voice interrupted my plans to pull out the kid's liver and any other organs I felt like as he watched. "You're cutting off my air."

"Got it!" Judy said triumphantly, holding a twig in her hand. "Someone want to play fetch?"

"Sorry," I said to Kara as my pack unsuccessfully tried to hide the way they were snickering. My life was so over when she started pulling that shit on purpose.

"Your turn, Baxter," Dinah said cheerfully. I would so get her back for this. I just needed someone to pick me and then it was so on.

Judy picked up Baxter's wrist and led him through eenie meenie miney moe with those of us around the fire and he didn't seem inclined to stop her. Eventually she settled on Will and Baxter dutifully asked, "Truth or dare?"

Even Will didn't know whether to laugh or scowl. As always, he settled for being an ass. "Truth."

Picking truth was his way of daring Baxter to do something with all that anger. We could read each other's minds; there were a hell of a lot of things that Dinah and Judy did not need to know; how far would Baxter want to push this?

"Why don't you like my dad?"

"Excuse me?"

Oh hell no.

Dinah beat me to it. "I'm vetoing that. It's against the rules of _life_ to give Will an excuse to be an asshole. He manages so well on his own."

But the kid just kept looking at Will, waiting for an answer. "I mean, I know why I don't like him—"

"Bax..." Brian pleaded, but that didn't get him anywhere. It hadn't been getting him anywhere for months.

"But you never liked him. Even when we were kids, I always thought your parents stopped bringing you around because you just...you really didn't like him."

"Will doesn't like anybody," I explained.

"Baxter," Francy said, "Dad's always just been a tad overprotective and he was a little unfair—"

"You mean," Will interrupted, "Aside from the fact he talked to me like I was trash, forbade me from entering your house before I had even started high school, tried to get my mother to kick me out of the house for my own good and would have succeeded if it hadn't been for my father, puked in my car and then got someone else to clean it for him, got into shit with guys the scare the hell of me and then just demanded I take care of it and yet someone _still_ talks to me like _I'm_ beneath _him..._aside from all that, you want to know why I don't like your father?"

Even Baxter reconsidered for a second (it probably had something to do with the way my sister was whimpering in his lap), but only a second. "Yeah."

"Besides the fact he has stupid hair?" Will was ripping apart his finger nails with his teeth as he talked. "When I was—I don't know how old I was. We were at your house for Christmas or New Year's or something with snow. I remember that because I had this god awful red sweater on, itchy as hell—but it was the only clean thing I had with long sleeves so I couldn't take it off."

"I remember that sweater," Dinah said. The two of us locked eyes; she didn't know where this was going, but she was asking me if we should stop it. I didn't know either. On the long list of things Will did not discuss with anyone, ever (so obviously I had to try to get him to tell me), Sam Uley wasn't even in the top twenty. "It really was hideous."

"Yeah." He snorted. "So it was the holidays or something. I don't really remember. Whatever. Sam caught me alone at some point. He told me that if I was a good boy, if I behaved better, maybe Dad wouldn't need to get so angry all the time."

I watched my little sister frown, trying to work it out in her head. And I felt bad about earlier in a way even Dinah's revenge hadn't made me feel. Sam was just trying to help his pack, trying to make things easier for Paul who had things hardest of all, but did he really have to be such an _ass_ about it?

Brian said, "You probably misunderstood."

"Don't make excuses for him," Dinah said. She was so furious she'd gone right past angry and was so calm it was terrifying. "Well, I guess you win. Being looked at like I was some evil seductress trying to ruin his son isn't quite as bad. At least I wasn't a kid."

"Betraying everything he and Mom held dear," Baxter said. "For missing a couple classes...like he had the right to talk about her like that."

"But you believed he was right," Will pointed out. Had Will? I didn't know. I mean, he always insisted that he knew it wasn't his fault that his dad treated him the way he did, but how could I know, really? I don't think he knew half the time.

"I'm sure he didn't mean..." Judy's voice quivered. "Well, it's all not true, so how could he mean it?"

"He called me Emily." Francy smiled at us all, the same smile she always gave. "If we're having a contest, I think that makes _me_ the winner."

"Congrats," Will said. "I guess you deserve a prize. You want my turn?"

"Thank you," she said politely. "Kara, truth or dare?"

"Oh, I..." I squeezed her hand. She could do this. "Truth, I guess."

"Tell us about the first time you knew you liked Levi. Maybe you can give an answer Judith likes."

"Um...well..."

"Dinah said it was when you were ten," Judy supplied. And if she was holding Baxter's hand...well, I kind of wanted to go over and hold Brian's, so I let it happen. Just this once.

"Maybe." My girlfriend blushed and looked so cute just then I had to give her a kiss on the cheek. I think it helped. "It was his birthday. He brought this cake to school—"

"And Mike pushed me and I dropped it," I complained. Fucker.

"He is in jail now," Will consoled me.

"While that is good news," Dinah couldn't resist, "Could you please let her finish?"

So Kara told the heroic story of how I chased the cake smashing son of a bitch and looked so adorable all covered in icing that she couldn't help falling desperately in love. I mean, she needed Francy to add the requisite 'aww's' but she did a good job all around.

Then she looked around for someone else to pick and selected Bert before I could stop her. When Bert picked dare, I helped her out a little (she told me I couldn't make Bert give Dinah a hickey, which was probably a good idea; I didn't want to hurt Brian, just crush Dinah's soul). Instead, I got Kara to have him switch clothes with Brian.

It didn't take long, since Brian only had his jeans on and well, it's not like Bert had a lot of clothes either. Wearing too many clothes just got in the way of phasing as Dinah found out since she didn't stop watching as they started to strip down. "That's got to be a health violation," she muttered as she _finally_ looked away.

"The fewer clothes, the easier it is to phase," Brian explained.

"I never really thought about it," Francy said, "But it must be a pain and a half to take off a bra if your hands are shaking."

My little sister, who had been cleaning Baxter's finger nails (she could see Bert and Brian naked whenever she wanted to, really, and fortunately for them she didn't want to), just shrugged. "That's why I stopped bothering. Besides, it feels nice not having anything on underneath."

Baxter quickly moved his free hand from my sister's stomach, where it was now far too close to her braless chest for Dinah's liking. Served Dinah right. Of course, I probably should talk to Judy about wearing a few more clothes. Sure, we were always hot, but she didn't have to be wearing shorts in the winter and her shirt was a little too transparent. But I really didn't feel comfortable thinking about my little sister and undert_hings_ at the same time.

Maybe Judy realized we were paying far too much attention to her and she was going to get into trouble somehow. The second Bert sat down in Brian's jeans (just a little too big), she was pulling him to his feet, the way she had just pulled Baxter up.

"We're going for a run now," she announced. "See you!"

The boys shrugged at each other and raced after her. We could hear them shouting over where they should change (everyone in my pack knew Judy phased by herself, thank you very much).

"Apparently Bert is skinnier than he looks," Brian complained, still trying to do up the last button on his jeans.

Dinah stood up and grabbed his hand. "We'll go home and get you a new pair."

"Subtle," I called.

"You wouldn't know subtle if it punched you in the jaw, Levi," my sister called over her shoulder as she went to do things I didn't want to think about to her boyfriend.

Francy started collecting the garbage from around the fire and Kara eventually got up to help her. Will rolled his eyes at me.

"What?" I asked.

"We need to figure out a way to bulk Judy up because Dinah's not going to let it go."

"I know. But if magical powers aren't giving Judy muscles, what the hell are we supposed to do?"

"Just find some other way she can help," Francy said. "Is that ours?"

The bag of chips was blowing down the beach. She didn't wait for an answer, already hurrying after it. Even though she had on all those layers, her clothes still clung to her. Those boots just made it obvious how those thighs would look without the jeans.

I was brought back to the moment by my kind of insane girlfriend.

"Why don't you like me?"

"Excuse me?" Will asked, just like he had last time. It was kind of funny because there were so many people he didn't like, he was just so unused to having to justify it.

Kara was blushing, but though she was looking at the ground, she repeated, "Why don't you like me?"

"It's against the rules of life to ask that," I reminded her as I got up and put my arm around her waist. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

But she didn't budge and Will was laughing.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"I just...I just want to know," Kara said.

"What to know what?" Francy asked as she came back out of breath but obviously aware that something that shouldn't be allowed was happening.

"Why he doesn't like me."

"It's easy," I said. "He just doesn't like not being able to control every little thing I do."

Challenging him was probably not the best way to get him to back down, but I was pissed (and a little worried about what he could say to her; I did not want to see Kara hurt and that's what Will did). All he said as he stood up was, "If I had an imprint, there would be nothing on earth that could keep me from her."

"Stop it," Francy ordered. "Both of you. Levi, take Kara home. William, stop using her as an excuse."

Invoking Marlena always had a weird effect on him. Right then, Will suddenly got serious. "Hey, sweetheart. Who says I don't like you?"

"What?" Kara asked. Oh, please. There was no way he did like her—part of the reason I loved her might have had to do with how I didn't think Will could ever like her.

"Who says I don't like you? I like Levi and, well, you must know at least some of the shit I got him into. Hell, I think I almost got him shot three, four times." Only one and a half. "I call Brian every name I can think of and occasionally beat him up. I haven't had a civil conversation with Dinah since..."

"I think I was eleven," Francy offered.

"For a long while, then. Doesn't mean I don't like her. And let's not get into the shit I put Fran through because Levi would be pissed if I gave you nightmares. You want me to be nice to you? I don't do that. I'm not nice to the people I like; don't take it personally."

She nodded, still a little fearfully, but (bizarrely) cheered. It was about time I got her out of there. I flipped Will off and started taking Kara home.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said slowly. "Yeah, I just...I just wanted to know. I know how important he is to you. I'm sorry if—"

"Don't be sorry. It was kind of hot." I had to show her how hot I had, in fact, found it; I just should have waited until we were a few feet further. Behind me, I could hear Francy talking quietly as I kissed my girlfriend.

"You didn't actually say you liked her."

"Yes, but she's never going to figure that out," the pain in the ass that called himself my cousin said. "He's going to fuck up everything long before it matters."

"I wouldn't underestimate her ability to forgive him."

"If she even notices."

"Of course she notices, William. He starts drooling sometimes. But love makes you stupid." She sighed. "There must be a way we could get him to stop."

"Like taser him every time he stares at you?"

"I do have pepper spray in my purse."

And since I had ordered Will to make sure my imprint got home safely (not that I needed to, since Brian had beaten me to it), I couldn't really object over what they found to talk about. Even if I really wished they would just shut up.


	9. Chapter 9

Before Dinah left to go back to school Mom and Dad brought us all into the kitchen to say goodbye.

"It's like you're never coming back." I couldn't help rolling my eyes. They were acting like someone was dying and it was kind of freaking me out. Plus, it was making Judy cry and that was never cool.

"Try not to make us mad right now," my mother said with a sigh. But she hugged me for ages, so I think she was just feeling sentimental and didn't want anyone to see.

"Watch out for your sister," Dad ordered. "And try not to annoy your uncle."

"Levi can't help being annoying," my very annoying older sister said. "It's his gift."

"So not true." Mostly not true. Whatever. "At least I can go thirty minutes without sticking my tongue in someone's mouth."

My father growled, but I'm not sure at which one of us he was growling at. My mother just sighed again. "What did I just say about making us mad?"

"Don't worry," Judy said brightly. "You guys are going to be great."

Then she clapped them both on the shoulders. My parents managed to keep their faces straight. For a second. Then Dad burst into laughter and picked up Judy while my mother threw her arms around Dinah and me.

"No tongues in anyone's throat," she ordered. "And practice safe sex."

My mother made me blush. How uncool was that? Even worse, Dinah didn't blush, though there was a certain drug store receipt that I was not forgiving either of my pack brothers for letting me see (Will was wonderful about giving people money for more birth control, reasoning it was cheaper to pay for as much protection as we could think of than to pay to cover up the murder he'd commit killing anyone who was stupid enough to have another kid for us to take care of).

"Since that was incredibly awkward," I protested, "Could you please leave already?"

"Try to be a little less obvious about how much you want my pack," my father growled.

"Levi's right," Dinah said, though she cut me off before I could gloat. "You're stalling. Just go. We've got it."

My parents hesitated, but the old man finally put Judy back on the ground and Mom kissed us all one last time before they headed out the door. That should have been that. It almost was. But then I found myself walking out after them, calling, "Hey, old man!"

Dad stopped, told my mother to wait in the warmth of the car, and then met me on the porch.

I really think I was taller than him just then, though it didn't feel like it.

"I'll take good care of them."

I had to promise him this—I'd promised it to myself so many times it was easy enough to say. I knew it's what I would want to hear if I had to leave my guys. Someone had to take care of them.

Dad nodded. "I know."

One gigantic hand patted me on the shoulder. It hurt like a motherfucker. The old man still had it, after all.

Then he said, "I wouldn't leave if I thought you couldn't handle it."

I watched from the porch as he walked down the stairs and joined my mother in 'her' car (the one he didn't dare tinker with, usually). Mom pulled out of the driveway as my father watched me.

My sisters joined me on the porch a second later.

"So," Dinah said, "Party?"

"Di!" Judy squeaked in indignation.

I burst out laughing and wrapped an arm around both my sisters. It was hard to tell which one was the werewolf. The powers that be must have made a mistake because Judy was still shorter and less muscular than Dinah even if Judy was the one who could hear when I snuck cookies in the middle of the night.

"Party," I agreed.

* * *

><p>Uncle Seth settled in with his usual lack of drama and it had a bizarre effect on the rest of my life. Somehow, December ended up being wonderfully calm (I wanted to say normal, but I turned into a wolf when I got mad so normal didn't work with me).<p>

Dinah headed back to school and now that she was tutoring him (and, you know, actually speaking to him), Bert was able to control his thoughts about her a lot better. This made Brian happier and now that I could have them patrol together, I was happier, too.

Brian was busy with his brothers, but Sam was almost a fully functional adult again (at least up to seventy percent of his old efficiency and Sam was a bit of an overachiever compared to normal parents), so Brian had an easier time than he'd had for the past couple of years. The twins were good the way they always were. Art was better than that. The kid wrote me a theme song. Five minutes dedicated solely to my awesomeness. So Brian might have been my favorite, but he was no longer my favorite Uley.

My least favourite Uley remained Baxter, who still mouthed off every so often. He was getting better about me (though he made it clear he still didn't like me very much—I'd survive the heartache). He still didn't speak to his father, not even to get food passed to him, but his stony silence at least wasn't screaming, so I took it. Besides, he managed to turn Bert into a semi-decent basketball player and considering the kid hadn't even known how to dribble before he phased, I may have been impressed.

Besides, Judy had decided that the three of them were best friends forever, so there would be no killing of Baxter for me. Judy was over-the-moon ecstatic with their little trio and that was enough for me. If my kid sister wanted to go everywhere with very scary bodyguards (I had trained them myself, after all) who were too scared of me to touch her, well, then, that was all right by me.

Judy was also doing me a solid by hanging around Kara a bit more. My girlfriend loved my little sister (who wouldn't?) and even if they didn't have that much in common, they still got along. Judy wasn't nearly as fascinating as me, but Kara seemed to like listening to her too. The boys followed Judy's lead so there was just Will and I was good at ignoring when Will didn't like someone.

There was the problem of how to handle Will's continued moping; the only ideas we came up with sucked.

"Maybe we should talk about Marlena more," Brian the moron suggested.

"Or not."

"Levi...we don't talk about her."

"You do it then."

"She was Francy's friend. Not mine. And even they weren't that close so I didn't know her well enough. You—"

"Hey, Will, remember that time I went skinny dipping with the love of your fucking life and afterwards the two of us ended up having one of the worst fights we ever had because you called her a blabbering whore just because you knew I really—?" I glared at Brian. "Will and I don't talk about Marlena Call. Okay?"

"Okay," Brian finally relented. "I just...you know, if you wanted to talk—"

I had never been so relieved to see Baxter in my life; I let the kid distract Brian with some chore and we relied on Bert to talk to Will and that was that.

So aside from making sure I didn't have any fun with my girlfriend, my Uncle didn't really have much to worry about.

* * *

><p>Since my uncle actually did go to work, when he wasn't talking to my father's soul mate who he was so not sleeping with, I did occasionally get the house to myself. I did have to give Judy fifty bucks so she could take herself to the movies, but my sister didn't mind, just called me awesome and took off.<p>

Then Kara would come over and—that was probably the one sucky part about being a werewolf, not being able to remember how awesome I was because then the guys would see it and my girlfriend would freak out and then I'd have to find another one. But Kara came over, it was good and we eventually ended up watching television as the house aired out (enough so Seth wouldn't notice, I could only hope).

Of course, since we were on a couch, a little fooling around never hurt anyone.

"I should go," she said eventually.

"Don't. Seth's not coming home until one." Bless the hospital emergency room.

"I have school tomorrow, Levi."

"But it's boring. And I am infinitely fascinating."

"True. But I have to go." Then she kissed me on the nose—so sweet she was going to make me diabetic—and started trying to wiggle away. I pretended like I actually had to work to keep her pinned. "You have work, too."

"Only sort of." My mother had basically created the job so she could bring me to work with her; I didn't have much to do even when she was around. Now that she was gone, well, she'd hired someone else to work in her place and she was so eager to prove herself I didn't have to do jack shit. "It's boring."

"You could find another job, then."

I groaned. I hated when she started making sense.

"See, when Will doesn't look for another job, it's a sign that he's had a personality transplant. When I don't bother, it's a sign that I'm lazy as fuck and everything is as it should be. Understand?"

It made her laugh, but then she did that stupid _thing_ where she stared up at me, all round cheeks and pouty lips and ran her hands through my hair.

"You're not lazy."

"I was making a point."

"Maybe you could work at the diner," she offered. Uh, no thank you. Being a bus boy had no appeal and cooking didn't seem like the safest idea since I couldn't cook (also, I would have eaten everything before it got to the customers).

"Okay. You keep thinking. I'll keep kissing you and we'll both be happy."

"That's a tough bargain." Kara could not act to save her life, though the look of concentration was an adorable attempt. "But, okay."

So I got back to kissing her.

My uncle did a lot of growling that night, but I was in much too good of a mood to care. And then Judy came home after he did, so he was too busy freaking out over her to worry about me (she'd been on the beach, where there was no clocks, but was also in public so my uncle couldn't worry too much). We were all good.

* * *

><p>Since everything was going so well, I decided to screw it up.<p>

Not on purpose, obviously.

At the beginning of the Christmas holidays, before my parents got back, Francy decided to invite her boyfriend to La Push to meet her family (though Dinah made it sound like he invited himself and Francy just could't get out of it). Since we were apparently family, I suggested the pack should be there too. In the end, she agreed with stipulations. They—the unholy couple—would have dinner with Sam and the boys. Then, if he was up for it (_only_ if he was up for it, it was stressed) they would join the pack at my house for desert and some fun.

That didn't sound like a very good plan to me, so I grabbed my sisters and headed to the Uley house. We made a stop off at my Uncle's place first to try to get Will to come with us, but he was unimpressed.

"Five brothers is enough for anyone," he snapped. "And if you want to get rid of him so badly, do it yourself."

"That's not why I'm asking you to come," I promised. Will was not convinced (probably because I was lying and he knew it). After telling Bert where I was going, after the kid had hurried to follow Dinah, Will shut the door in my face.

I was on my own.

"This is a bad idea," Dinah said (yet again) as the four of us walked.

"We're being neighbourly."

"You're being a jerk."

"Should we invite Kara?" Judy asked as we passed the Cameron house.

"We shouldn't invite _ourselves_," Dinah said.

"Then why are coming?"

"Because it's funny when you make an ass out of yourself."

"I'm not—No one is going to be an ass. We just have to make sure Francy's dating someone who's good enough for her."

"Puppy! Why are you never around when I need you?"

Sadly enough, Bert actually responded to that. I had to work on getting the boy some self-esteem or something. Just because Dinah was right about him following after her with big, soulful eyes didn't mean she got to call him names.

"You okay?"

"Levi's being overbearing controlling ass. Someone needs to poke him or something."

"And your finger was getting tired?"

Fortunately, her amusement with Bert stopped Dinah from complaining for a moment. Soon we reached the Uley house and Judy was running up the porch steps, with the cookies she and Seth had been making for most of the week in hand (Dad was going to be horrified to learn that my sister had traded her wrench for a spatula while he was gone). The rest of us followed up after her, Dinah still muttering about how this was a very bad idea under her breath.

Artie was the one who opened the door.

"Oh." His eyes were kind of wide. "Um. What are all you doing here? With clothes on?"

"Sometimes we do that," Judy said as she pushed passed him into the house. That was our cue. I smiled at the kid—okay, so I must have looked a little too pleased with myself because he quickly scampered away.

Judy was explaining to the rather shell-shocked Uley's that we had brought cookies.

Francy's boyfriend—Carl Marcus Wellington Jr.—was the sort of pansy assed, weak looking douche I might have beat up for fun two years ago. He had curly blonde hair (honey-blonde, I'm sure some girl would tell you) and a goatee and couldn't have lifted more than ten pounds if you put a gun to his head. Dressed in this designer plaid shirt that I bet he thought was casual, he had a watch that certain ex-friends of mine could have gotten hundreds of dollars for; he also had his arm around my imprint.

"Honey, this is Dinah's family," Francy said with a smile. "Her brother, Levi, and her sister, Judy, and our friend Bert. I'll make you name tags later."

"Dinah, Levi, Judy and Bert. Right?" He grinned at her, this cocky smirk that I kind of wanted to punch off. "It's nice to finally meet you all. Francine's told me so much about you."

"Why don't we head outside?" Sam said. "There's more room out there."

The twins complained about the cold, so Dinah promised to get them blankets and Brian promised them a fire and outside we went. Judy fell into step with Carl, the traitor, talking about some movie Baxter had taken her to see. Artie tried talking to Bert so I let myself fall behind.

Sam was still sitting at the head of the table, staring at his glass of water, depressed.

"So? You want me to kill him for you?"

"He seems dependable." Sam sighed. "He's your fault, Levi. If you hadn't refused your imprint just to be contrary—"

"I didn't do it just to—" Arguing with Sam had always been a waste of my breath. "Is she happy?"

Sam stood up, cleaning up the dishes. I don't think he was trying to avoid looking at me, so much as avoiding thinking about it. But he did come to a conclusion. "I haven't seen her happy in a long, long time."

And whose fault was that? I wanted to ask, but, contrary to popular belief, I wasn't actually an asshole. It hadn't been Sam's fault his wife died; if he'd had his way, nothing would have ever happened to Emily. The stuff after that…well, that might have been his fault, but there was nothing to be done about that now.

"I'll figure something out," I murmured and then headed out back. Sam went to call Will to set a date for—well, we didn't talk about what they did together. Afterwards, I'm sure he called his sponsor. Carl had that effect on people.

Francy and her precious Carl had settled down at the end of one of the tables, talking to Judy and Baxter, whose sole redeeming feature had always been that he loved his older sister. Nothing else could make him want to be near that loser.

"Stop scowling," Dinah ordered. "Your face will freeze like that."

"I suppose I should go say hello."

My sister glared at me. Then her expression flickered. "I'm sure you've picked up something from Will after all these years. Go talk to the _happy_ couple."

"Interesting."

"What?"

"Nothing," I said. She didn't even look guilty; my sister was kind of scary if I thought about it too much. I tended not to—but then I did as she said. Though I grabbed Brian because I wasn't yet a master at being a dick on cue and I didn't want to accidentally make _Francy_ cry.

Dinah started organizing Judy, Bert and the rest of the Uley boys into snowball fighting teams. Carl had no interest in snowball fights; Carl seemed a little overwhelmed by all the children. We should have brought Benji along too. Hell, we should have invited the Ateara girls. And maybe the rest of the old packs' kids.

"Got any siblings?" I asked Carl, real friendly-like, as Brian and I sat down across from him.

"Two younger brothers." He didn't know what to make of me, you could tell. He didn't know what to make of us, actually, and I kind of loved the slight fear in his eyes. He was barely taller than Francy and he was wearing a bulky winter jacket while the two of us were still in t-shirts.

"Francy didn't tell me that," Brian said. "You close to them?"

It turned out it didn't matter that I didn't have being rude down to an art form yet. I had actually never heard Brian sound the way he sounded that day. Good for him. It was about time he wanted to take the offensive.

"Not really. There's a couple of years between us. You know how it goes."

"Yeah," Brian said. "Sure. Hey, Levi, did we tell you Carl's from Canada?"

"How _nice_. What brings you to this side of the border?"

It turned out that in his spare time, Carl helped save dying children. Tool.

The more Carl talked the politer Brian got, until he had managed to compliment the Wellingtons three generations back. He'd found out the other man's favorite food and color and place to vacation and made plans to see him again in Seattle. But he just kept asking question after question and somehow he made it seem like Carl kept answering them wrong. "I see," Brian said, more times than I could count, and it sounded like Brian could see, and that what he could see wasn't worth his time at all, even if you couldn't put your finger on why that was.

Our problem with the wannabe M.D. wasn't that he was boring—though for the record I almost fell asleep as he talked for hours and hours about himself—because being boring was not a crime. It wasn't even that he had a crappy sense of humour, laughing at his own jokes, or that he was an arrogant son of a bitch. All that I could have handled. Not gracefully, I'm sure, if we're being honest, but I could have figured out a way to handle it.

But Sam was right; Francy didn't look happy.

So fuck Carl.

Though mostly I sat there, looking unimpressed and growling sometimes. It was funny watching Carl jump, scared but not sure why. I didn't explain I could crush him single-handedly. I liked keeping the element of surprise.

Dinah took over entertaining Carl duties after the snow ball war was finished, so I went to see if the Uley's had anymore snacks lying around. I was hungry. Sue me. Also, I did not want to keep watching the way she kept patting him on the knee and smiling up at him, all worshipful. It was a shitty look on her.

In the kitchen, Judy and Baxter were washing the last of the dishes (well, Baxter was washing the dishes and Judy was licking the plates clean first). I nabbed some of the leftovers and leaned against the counter my sister was sitting on.

"What do you think?" I asked them.

"He seems okay," Judy said lamely.

Baxter snorted. It was the first time I think the two of us had agreed on anything. It was kind of touching.

"For a prick," I said. Baxter nodded briefly at that.

"A colossal prick," another voice said. Well, our pack had to stay together, after all. Brian didn't look pleased by our solidarity. "My sister is dating a huge prick."

"Who probably has a tiny prick."

"Guys..." Judy whined.

"I think we could still get rid of him," I said.

Judy punched me on the arm.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"Girl kind."

"That's not a thing."

"Well..." Judy looked confused for a second, turning her eyes to Baxter for help as she said, "It should be."

He translated: "You don't get to be jealous. You have a girlfriend. And even if you didn't—"

"Francy's not your property," Judy finished.

"Hey, this has nothing to do with Kara. But Francy's my friend and he's a prick."

"Yeah," even Judy noticed so it must have been obvious, "But she gets to decide that."

Brian sighed. "Are we overreacting?"

"No."

"We're overreacting," he decided. "He's showing off. He's nervous. We're defensive. She's...it's pronounced di_f_theria.

For the rest of us, I asked, "What?"

"Diphtheria. It's pronounced with a f, like she said. Not dip-theria. He was wrong, the dipstick. He corrected her, in public, and he was wrong about it." I took Brian's word for it.

"And he's Canadian," Baxter said as he and his brother exchanged this _look _that said I really hadn't been needed. They would have taken care of this themselves.

"Uh…Canada's not so bad." I mean, it's not like I liked Carl, or anything, but any country were the national animal was a beaver was all right by me.

"Then he should have stayed there," Brian said. "He wants to make a difference so badly, why didn't he stay there? I'm _sure_ he just wants to help people." Brian growled. It was so awesome. "She deserves better."

"Bert's waving for us," Judy said as she hopped off the counter. "Let's go judge the snowman contest instead. Okay?"

* * *

><p>Finally, Carl had to leave. It wouldn't do for him to drive himself back to Seattle in the dark, getting lost along the way. A guy could hope, but...<p>

Sam took the twins to change out of their freezing clothes and they got distracted playing who knew what in their room. That left the rest of us standing around the kitchen.

"Why are you all here?" Francy demanded.

My pack coughed and muttered and said clearly: "Levi."

"I just wanted to meet the guy. Waiting isn't my strong point."

"Well," she said stiffly. "What did you all think?"

"Lovely man." I may have growled a bit as I said it, but I said it.

"He seemed to really like you," Judy offered.

"Just didn't like your family and friends," Brian said. "And he sounded so busy, I don't understand how he has time for you."

"_I_ don't need a babysitter, Brain."

There was something about the way she said it that didn't make Brian very happy. Dinah must have noticed too because she left Artie's side and stepped between the two. Bert's awkward attempts at comfort at least made Artie smile.

"Okay. Brian, you were a jerk. Francy, you have lousy taste in guys. What's done is done; aside from not wanting to talk to Levi again—which would have happened eventually, anyway—I don't think Carl had that bad of a time."

"Just because he couldn't tell...was he really that bad?"

"Levi's a lot taller," Artie blurted out without thinking. It was the wrong thing to say, even if...maybe it was my fault that this was happening. It was to save his little brother that prompted Baxter.

"Did you tell him about Dad?"

"Of course not."

"Then what does it matter what we think of him?"

Francy nodded and looked around at the rest of us. "Well, since you're all here, does anyone want to help me vacuum up this floor?"

We helped clean; and none of us said anything about the way the twins were avoiding each other. When we left them, Dinah stayed behind. I wasn't sure she knew which one of them she wanted to help more (or which one she was going to strangle first).


	10. Chapter 10

I had patrol a few days before Christmas with Bert, but neither one of us picked up anything suspicious. If I didn't know that everyone would be annoying about it, I probably would have admitted it a long time ago—we really didn't need to be running all the patrols we ran. Bert wouldn't complain when I told him, which is why I told him first. Unless I was pushing Will around, the kid loved me.

_We'll do patrols further out but less often._

Most vampires knew to stay out of Washington. It was what Dad had spent his whole life working for. The only ones I was going to get were the really dumb, new ones, the ones without someone around to tell them they really did NOT want to mess with us.

_Okay, _Bert agreed. _I think the others will like having more free time._

There was a lot of stuff he didn't say. Baxter was going to hate me for taking this long to change my mind (the kid might have a lot on his plate, but he could handle it), Brian was going to worry about what might fall through the cracks, Will and Judy would do what I said about wolf stuff without question and most of all, Bert wasn't going to say he was going to miss it. He'd liked having patrols take up so much of his time, getting him out of the house when he needed it. Werewolf hearing meant that every time his mother cried, every time his dad cried, every time they started arguing, taking it out on each other, well, Bert had been okay with the patrol schedule.

I'd kept him busy; I didn't push him to talk to me about his family. That was one conversation I knew I couldn't handle.

_Good. All right, I think we're done. Race you back to the house?_

The kid was already off.

It really was better as a wolf sometimes.

We went to the Call house. His parents weren't home, but the rest of the pack was waiting for us. Will was lying on the living room couch moping, while the other three were on the floor playing cards, waiting for us to get back so Judy and Baxter could take our places. Brian apparently hadn't left after he and Will had finished; with Francy back in town and his father doing all right, Brian had more free time nowadays and he was trying to enjoy it. Also, he was avoiding his sister, but I was being understanding today so I didn't mock him for it.

"We're having a Battle Royale when you come back," Judy informed Bert, after she had hugged him hello (as her flesh and blood, the big brother who had slavishly looked after her for years, I merely got a wave). "Mano-a-mano-a-womano. It'll rock."

Baxter followed her to the back of the house, asking Bert, "Does it worry you she likes shooting us so much?"

"Only sometimes," Bert said with a shrug.

"No ganging up on me this time either!" Judy shouted.

"Maybe if you stopped with the war chants—"

When the door muffled what Baxter was saying everything got kind of quiet. Bert sat down on the carpet and started munching on the snacks Brian offered him while I grabbed the book out of Will's hands.

"It sounds like we're unwelcome tonight."

Will snatched the book back and ignored me. Brian said, "Can't say I'm sorry to miss it. Judy is a little intense when it comes to video games."

"Baxter beat her yesterday," Bert said. "So yeah. We're playing video games."

"He beat her _again_? I thought I taught her how to play basketball better than that." I _knew_ I had taught her better than that.

"Have you seen the two of them play one-on-one?" Bert looked traumatized just thinking about it. "He might beat her most of the time, but it's not because she's not really good. They're scary to watch."

"Good. Not that my family's competitive or anything," I said as I joined the two of them on the floor and picked up a controller. The kid needed to practice before facing my sister, so his pack brothers needed to help him.

Brian laughed. "When was the last time you played basketball, Levi?"

"Please. I am not scared of your stupid brother."

"It's just taking him awhile to accept that the kid's better," Will murmured. I maybe punched his leg.

"What did I ever do to him?"

"You're a dick to him," Will said. He was just trying to get me back for hitting him. If he meant it, he would have looked up from the book.

"He still hates my dad more," Brian said, trying and failing to hide the bitterness. I was worried about Brian, but kind of glad to hear it at the same time. If I couldn't beat Sam, I really would have been a loser.

I poked Bert in the arm. "So? What's his problem with me?"

It took a couple punches, some well-placed shots and some time, but eventually Bert answered.

"Judy said it was because you were both, um, well, uh, close to your moms. Only—yeah."

As much as Bert was good for not complaining about my decisions as Alpha, he really could kill a conversation dead. Because how the hell was I supposed to be annoyed by someone when all I could think about was their dead mother? It wasn't like it was my fault Emily died. There was no way he should blame me for that. I hadn't thought they'd been close; Emily was closest to Francy, everyone knew that. I'd also always thought that Baxter had taken it the best. Not that—I guess there wasn't a good way of taking your mother dying.

"Tommy was telling me you guys lost the other day," Brian said, in the world's most obvious attempt to change the subject. We went with it. His mother, his call.

"We played four on two," Bert explained for those of us who did not permanently live at the Uley's. "Tommy said Judy couldn't play on Baxter's team any more after they beat us by, well, Tommy said I couldn't mention that ever again either. That's why they went one on one and why we're now playing video games until she wins."

Aside from Tommy, the rest of the Uley boys weren't that great. Timmy couldn't concentrate and Artie was like Brian (he was decent, I wouldn't complain about having him on my team, but he just didn't get into it fully and when you were playing Judy you had to bring out the big guns). Bert was trying to learn (mostly because Judy wanted him to), but dribbling while moving still gave him problems sometimes. Though the fact remained my sister was awesome.

"What are the kids up to on a Friday night, anyway?" I asked.

"Art's going to some party," Brian said. "And the twins are going to make Francy and Dad watch some cartoon."

"She still going out with—"

"Oh yeah." Brian growled, though I'm sure he would have said it was because I had just shot him. "Not that she'll talk to me about it."

As nice as it was to have people agree with me, I started feeling a little uncomfortable. The problem with Francy, I had always thought, was _my_ problem. When I first imprinted, Will had said she'd be better for the pack, but had dropped that line of attack in favour of just picking on Kara, which I knew was mostly just to annoy me (if he'd really hated her, she'd be gone).

Not being with Francy was my decision. I thought. But since my pack (and whatever the hell Artie and the rest of the Uley boys and the rest of La Push was) had decided Carl Marcus Wellington Jr. was public enemy number one, I was starting to worry that maybe it wasn't that simple.

The others hadn't liked seeing her with someone else even though Carl hadn't been _that_ bad. But they _really _didn't like Carl. I hoped it was just because he wasn't one of us and not because I hadn't liked him. Were they all just following their Alpha's orders? Was I fucking up her life by wanting…not wanting, but sort of wanting, just hating her with him?

"He hasn't called her since he came over. Well," Brian said cheerfully, "He did call once. But Timmy got to the phone first. What was I supposed to do? Rip the phone out of his hands?"

"What did he do?"

"Asked for security clearance. 'We take the safety of our agents very carefully,' or something like that. Who knows where Carl thought he'd ended up calling."

I couldn't help the laughter that maybe resembled a cackle.

"He wasn't that bad," Will said.

"You only say that because you didn't meet him," I said.

"And because I know you."

Brian scoffed. "He has _nothing_ in common with my sister. All he wants—I mean, I knew she didn't have any respect for herself, but couldn't she—I can't believe she'd settle for a relationship based just on—"

Since the place where my mind went sucked, after Brian finished growling, I just said, "So the three of us are going out tonight, then?"

Brian was still scowling and Will just said, "My parents are going out tonight."

"So dump Benji with Seth."

"Don't the two of you have girlfriends you could annoy instead?"

"Kara's busy," I admitted. "Some stupid girl thing. And she's being kind of annoying, lately."

Brian said, "Trying to help you figure out what you want to do with your life is not…how is that a problem?"

"Her ideas suck," Will said.

"Shut up." Okay, so the idea of me working with my father was terrible. Whatever. She was just trying to help; it would have been nicer if she had clued into what I actually liked doing—leading the pack. "Why aren't you going out with Di?"

"She wanted a night in by herself."

"She mad at you?"

I let Will ask. It seemed nicer. Brian may have shot Bert right after for perking up, but you couldn't really blame him.

"She spent too much time this week around my dad."

"She still pissed at him?" I asked.

It was Bert who said, "She's never going to forgive him."

"Thank you," Brian said as he hit the kid, "But we can figure out my girlfriend without your help." Will knocked his knee into Brian's head though, so we were all mostly even.

"Hey," I said, "It's not like she's said anything about your dad, right?"

I knew my sister. She'd been at the Uley house every day this week, trying to make Sam explode with her brain. But Brian wanted to keep the peace, so I doubted she said anything.

"No. We don't talk about my dad." Will snorted, which was probably why Brian asked, "Where have you been lately, anyway? This is the first time I've seen you outside of patrols in a week. Just because Dinah's here—"

"She has not yet forbidden me to go near you." After making it sound like he wished she would, Will turned the page. "In fact, she was trying to get me to come over the other day."

"So it's my sister you're scared of?" Brian asked. Will snorted, but didn't say anything. "Is it the half a bicep she has? Or the slightly long nails? The nails kind of freak Timmy out."

I had to add, "Is having her suddenly shorter than you scary?"

"She was _never_—I'm the only one in this room who can talk to the woman, so maybe you all should shut up."

"Not true," I protested. "I might be avoiding her, but that's just because she's confusing. I could talk to her if I wanted."

"I'm scared of Francy," the kid admitted easily. "You could kill someone with the shoes she wears."

Brian didn't say anything.

"For the record," Will continued, "I was at your house on Monday and Thursday. Ask her, if you want. Or would you like me to wear a tracking device for you convenience?"

"I believe you," Brian said, "I just didn't see you."

"You were at work."

"You came over on the days Dad works early?"

"I'm definitely not scared of your father. I spend more time with him nowadays than anyone."

The holidays—Marley had loved the holidays; Emily had always made them special—weren't easy for either of them, though we never did talk about whatever it was Will and Sam found to do together. Will might have been moping and Sam might not have said much, but they were both functioning so we figured it was as okay as it could be.

"I was just wondering why I never saw you," Brian said. It was clear he wasn't going to win this. At least it shut Will up.

"It's the moping," I offered. I got a book in the head for my trouble, but it was worth it. And since I now had the book, I could say, "You're playing."

"Fine," Will announced, "But I'm not going out tonight."

"Teams?" Bert asked.

It turned out that for all the sniping, Will and Brian were very good at planning out how to kill people together. Who would have thought?

* * *

><p>Me and my sisters were actually having dinner together for once (one of us always seemed to be at the Uley's). Dinah was mad at one or both of the twins, but she wouldn't talk about it with me. She wasn't mad at me, so it was nice. Judy was staying with us in solidarity, or something, so we kicked back and enjoyed the Chinese Dinah had ordered for the three of us.<p>

Also, I was totally kicking their asses at monopoly.

"Cheat!' Dinah threw the pillow at the back of my head. Again. "Levi."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Give her the other hundred you owe her."

"You're accusing your little brother of cheating?"

"Damn right I am. I've played with you before."

"It's not like either of you are going to beat me," Judy bragged. The board was covered in her hotels and the properties Dinah and I were barely hanging onto. "Levi can keep the hundred. I'll eat the last fortune cookie instead."

We should not have played for food. It made Judy far too competitive for me to beat. Now she had her fortune: "'Could I get some directions to your heart?' I think the fortune cookie is flirting with me."

"The perfect guy for you, Jubes. He's edible."

My little sister slugged me—what? It was true. My dream girl was made out of chocolate and chocolate pudding. I was a man of diverse tastes—and somehow that ended up with me sitting on her. The kid just didn't have a chance.

"Do you hear that?" she muttered.

"That's the sound of me being awesome," I told her.

"Or the hot air escaping his big head," Dinah contributed.

"Levi, the engine!"

I listened; she was right. There was a car coming along the road, parking in our drive. A familiar sounding car engine…

"They're back," I announced. I wasn't nervous because I was totally ready to be Alpha, but there was something about thinking about my parents as humans and me as a werewolf that made me a little concerned. That was why Judy had to punch me in the leg before I would get off of her, so she and Dinah could hurry out the front door. If I was a little slower, well, it was to give my parents time to get out of the car.

They looked the same, still tall and muscular and the exact same they had looked my whole life. My father called out a greeting while my mother surveyed us all and glared at me like she knew I had done something wrong. That was the same, too. They just didn't smell the same.

"You did it!" Judy exclaimed, then jumped up and hugged my father. She almost knocked him over.

"Either that or you gained a whole lot of weight," he said as he winced and put her down. "We're going to have to stop that. Spare my back."

"Oops. Sorry," she said as she traded places with Dinah and I, where we were hugging our mother.

I let Dinah hug Dad because the two of us totally didn't do that lame kind of stuff—and if he hugged me later, it was just to annoy me—so I asked them, "Was it hard?"

"Yes and no," Mom said. "It's good to be home. We're starving."

"Dinah ate all the Chinese food," I informed her.

"So glad to hear you were eating healthy while we were gone," my mother said. "Is there a single vegetable in the house?"

"That depends on if you consider frozen french fries vegetables," I said.

Dinah threw up her hands. "I just got home a few days ago. I'm still catching up on sleep."

My mother sighed, my father laughed and then we all went and sat around the table, eating whatever was left in the fridge.

They told us how long the days had felt, trying to stay calm, trying to resist the urge not to phase. But they had managed, somehow. "We played a lot of checkers," Dad said with a shrug. "And then yesterday we tried phasing back and found we couldn't."

"I got a paper cut as we were leaving," my mother said, holding out her hand. "First paper cut in over twenty years. Makes me miss it already."

"You'll be too busy Christmas shopping to miss it," Judy explained. "So, what are you getting me for Christmas?"

"I guess our life altering transformation is no longer exciting," Mom observed.

Judy didn't even bother looking sorry. It was Christmas. Presents and decorations and more sugar than she should ever have. My father laughed and asked where her letter to Santa was.

"Isn't she a little old to believe in Santa?" Dinah asked as Judy darted into their room.

"Grinch," I teased. I glanced at my mother, who agreed with my sister, but didn't have the heart to say so. Mom was just sitting there, smelling human and looking ever so slightly different (her arms were less muscular, her hair was longer than she had ever worn it before, even if it was still really short), grouchy and annoyed and happy to be home and tired and alive, so I figured I'd give her another hug.

"What did you do now?" my mother demanded. All heart.

"He was okay," Dinah said. There was no way Seth was going to give the same report, but it was nice of her to try.

"Got it," Judy said as she came out of her room.

"If the first item isn't a car," my father said, "I'm disowning you."

"Jake," Mom scolded. "If the first item is a car, I'm disowning her. She's fifteen."

Judy frowned. "Aw. Mom."

"Judith Black, you're out of your mind if you think we're buying you a car."

My father's face made me think that he might have already had the whole thing picked out.

"Leah—"

"_Jacob_."

"I'll be sixteen this year. I have to start working on it before. It doesn't have to be anything special, just something around the garage that I could maybe fix up."

I couldn't help laughing and even Dinah was far too amused for my mother's liking.

"I'm so glad I came back for this."

And even though Mom couldn't say anything without a hint of sarcasm, we all got that she really meant it, anyway.

And that Judy wasn't getting a car.

* * *

><p>Since my parents' retirement had gone so well, karma said that Christmas had to suck that year. My aunt's family, Uncle Seth, Grandpa Billy, Grandma Sue and Charlie came over like they did every year, creating a ruckus as usual. Grandma complained I was a disappointment (which was frankly better than the looks she gave Will) while Seth tried to distract her. Uncle Paul and Aunt Rachel argued over the best way to breath or something equally dumb. My grandfather told stories in between courses to make Charlie laugh. This year, my parents tried to get used to not being able to secretly talk to each other in front of other people.<p>

So us kids (Will was twenty now and Judy looked twenty-three at least, but they were always going to call us the kids) used Benji as an excuse to go play in the other room.

It was like all other Christmases, except my Mom had to carry the platters one at a time (or get Judy to do it). Far away from the adults, we played video games and wrestled with Benji as we waited for our parents to let us open presents.

When there was a knock on the door, I went to get it—I could already smell and hear it was Bert. Still, it didn't make it less of a surprise. Especially since he had been crying. The red eyes gave him away.

"Sorry," he murmured. "But Will said—"

"Come on in."

Will was already standing when we got back, prepared to go outside. But the second Bert saw Dinah he just lost it, sobbing, clinging to her, almost knocking her right over (kid was gaining muscle and not used to it).

"Okay," she muttered. But once the surprise faded, once the rest of us pretended we were minding our own business, she wrapped her arms around him and let herself rub circles on his back. "It's okay, Bert. I'm here, it's okay."

Judy hustled Benji to the kitchen for a snack run. Eventually, Bert caught his breath, though he took his time letting go of Di. He was talking to her hair, though Will and I could hear him clearly enough.

"It's Christmas and my grandparents are there and my parents are there but..."

Marlena wasn't.

"I'm sorry," Dinah whispered. "But you're crushing my ribs."

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's okay. Um, we've got pie. Pumpkin. Your favourite. You want me to get you some?"

"Sure."

I hope he didn't notice the way she winced when she moved—when he wasn't a mess I was going to have to warn the kid to watch his strength.

"We're playing. You want in?" I offered.

"Yeah."

Full sentences might hurt him.

Dinah came back with the pie, though (since it was Christmas) she ignored how he blushed when she leaned over to hand him the plate. Hell, Di even sat beside him because it seemed to help. And Will didn't say a damn word, though when Judy and Benji came back with candy, he at least managed a smile for his little brother.

Marley loved Christmas. All of December, when we were bored in class (if I was in class), I'd let her write Christmas lyrics all over my arms (sometimes she'd write them on my neck, too—any skin she could find). She had this pair of reindeer ears she wore the entire last week of school that she'd had since she was six. And this elf costume—but that was later.

She used to make her friends go carolling. La Push isn't really all that into Christmas, but people put up with it because they were pretty cute. And her friends could sing, even if Marley couldn't have found the right note if it was standing on her foot. It was Christmas—no one cared if you could actually sing.

Since my cousin still wasn't talking and Bert looked like he was going to start crying any second (fear of Dinah's inability to deal with human emotions might have been the only thing that let him keep it in), I figured I'd go tell my parents that we were inviting the Calls over for Christmas this year. They were cool with it—hell, Dad was the one who called Embry and convinced him it was no problem having the five of them over in under five minutes.

So we had the largest party we could, as if having everyone talking over each other about everything but her could make up for the fact she wasn't there. I had spent last Christmas angry at her for stealing my best friend. If I could just take that back…

What did it matter? It wasn't like anything could bring her back.

After everyone had gone home I slipped off to the porch for some fresh air.

"You should be helping your mother," my grandmother said. She stared at me, dark eyes searching and disapproving as always. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Liar." She called it like she saw it. That's why Grandpa Billy was my preferred grandparent (that and some of his stories could get kind of raunchy).

"I'm fine."

"When your mother was a teenager, she used to do this. Go outside in the middle of the night. I don't know what for," and to this day she didn't understand, her voice made clear, "But she'd go outside. Your grandfather used to follow her out to make sure she was all right. They'd talk for hours under the starlight."

Grandma Sue did not do sentimental. She talked about Grandpa Harry (who'd died ages before I'd been born) but she usually didn't sound all misty-eyed when she did. Usually, she just laid out the facts. She was so my favourite, even if she didn't like me much.

"What's wrong, Levi?"

That night she sounded kind of sad, so I answered her question.

"I—Will doesn't spend time with me if he can avoid it. I don't know how to fix Brian and his family. I don't know how to help Bert. I don't know how to make any of this better for anyone. Hell, I embarrassed my little sister and couldn't even fix that without Dad. What the hell am I doing in charge of anything?" I came to my senses. Christmas miracles didn't really happen. "Don't agree too loudly, please? Not tonight."

"Don't be melodramatic." She sighed and settled down on the porch beside me. "I'm going to catch pneumonia."

The germs would be too scared.

"Do you know what I saw tonight, Levi? I saw a young man who used to care only about himself doing everything he could to bring people together. I saw him treat his elders with respect—and a bit of deserved snark—and I saw him treat his family with love. I saw him laugh harder and talk longer than anyone, to try to trick everyone into having the merry Christmas that they deserved. No one noticed that he stopped smiling when they left because they were too busy laughing, feeling a bit better because of what he did."

"Yeah?" And maybe I was kind of misty myself because I really needed to believe her just then.

"Do I say things I don't mean?"

I almost laughed. "No, ma'am."

"Stop that."

"Yes, ma'am."

"You get that from Billy, you know. It wasn't funny sixty years ago, it's not funny now." But she was kind of smiling at me. "You know, Levi, the secret isn't what you do. Sometimes you can't help doing the wrong thing. Everyone makes mistakes—your father did, his father did…everyone does. The secret is you just keep trying."

"That's too easy."

"That's what I always thought. But some people…we all get knocked down. You get up and you pull up anyone else who needs it and you do that for as long as it takes."

"I can do that."

"I know," my grandmother said as she rose to her feet. "Look at the stars if you want. Just don't stay here all night."

"I miss her."

The love of my cousin's life, the girl he couldn't live without and I missed her. I was an asshole. But Grandma Sue wouldn't let it get back to Will. She might not always like me, but she was a big believer of rising above the shit you got dealt and, well, Will was like the opposite of that.

Grandma looked up at the stars for a moment. "You love someone, they never leave you."

"Hey, I never said—"

"Go help your mother."

"Yes, ma'am."


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: **Very** observant readers will note that I've moved Baxter's birthday. It used to be later in the year. But I finally decided on an official date and it's February 3rd. Oops. This chapter is going to be confusing; I hope you can see what Levi refuses to otherwise, well, I promise to explain eventually.

The wolves are coloured as follows: Levi=russet, Will=silver, Baxter=black, Bert=spotted grey/black (like Jacob, Paul, Sam, Embry, respectively). Judy's fur is white and Brian is a light grey.

* * *

><p>It was the middle of January, I had just gotten off from work and all I wanted to do was go to sleep. So of course there was a knock on the door. Not that it was weird to have Artie show up at my door, but it was weird. Right away I had a bad feeling.<p>

"Did the drumming finally make them kick you out of the house?" A guy could hope it would be that simple.

"Don't get mad at Baxter."

Not only did I not appreciate being ordered around by a freshman, but I immediately became paranoid.

"What happened?"

"Dinah broke up with Brian."

Okay, so I admit it. The first thing I said was: "Again?"

"Yeah. Baxter said to get you."

"Did he also tell you to tell me not to get mad at him?"

"No. I just think you shouldn't. He didn't mean—and Judy finally got him talking to Dad and if you say anything he might stop." He looked up at me with these big eyes that all the eyeliner in the world couldn't make less pathetic. "Before, he wouldn't even ask Dad to pass him food. Now they—I mean, they don't _talk_ but they talk and I think at New Year's they laughed at the same joke and it would just be bad if you yelled at him."

What could a guy do against little kids looking sad?

"I won't get mad at him."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Artie exhaled now that he wasn't worried I'd kill his brother.

"Thanks."

"You ever going to tell me what happened?"

"Dad said something to Baxter. Baxter told Francy who told Dinah who called Brian. They broke up. Baxter said to get you, told me that maybe he shouldn't have argued with Dad who told Francy who told Dinah—"

"Yeah, I got that part."

"So I got you," Artie concluded. "And that's all I know."

"It's really like the whole town is playing broken telephone, isn't it?"

"Yup."

Sucked to be me.

* * *

><p>Brian gave me a tiny smile and seemed more tired than usual, but clearly the breakup hadn't hit him yet because the first words out of his mouth were, "Be nice to Baxter. It's not his fault."<p>

"If everyone keeps saying that, I'm going to start thinking it was. Where is he?"

"Here." My least favourite Uley brother came out of his room to face me, at least, his expression a mixture of guilt and defiance that I knew pretty well. I guess it was official. Everyone, Baxter included, had decided it was his fault.

"Make dinner, will you? I'm taking your brother outside and cheering him up."

He hesitated, but didn't argue with me. It must really be his fault.

"Run?" I said to Brian when we were alone.

"I don't want you poking around in my head," he said as we walked into the backyard.

"Since when do I do that?" Right. "Okay. Fine. No run."

"It's not—Levi, all you would hear is Dinah being really disappointed in me and I don't want to relive that. It's over. We've been over for a long time. It's almost a relief not to wonder when everything's going to end."

Yeah, crap like that made understanding Dinah a whole lot easier. The first time they had broken up, Brian had been absolutely pathetic. Maybe there was something to the whole being over for a while. If I broke up with someone and they were this not devastated, I would just assume I should have done it sooner.

"So, we're not talking about it?"

He sighed. "Maybe we should go for a run. Just…I'd really like it if you didn't go poking around."

"I can control my curiosity for a half a second." Though when we phased, I said, _Can you at least tell me _why_ she did it?_ Not that I would ever bully her into going back to Brian (as if I could). But when I yelled at her later for hurting my pack brother I wanted to know what I was talking about.

_Baxter doesn't like it when Dad tells him what to do nowadays. Especially not—I think he learned it from Dinah, you know. She finds the idea that we should ever listen to Dad again repulsive._

_What did Sam say?_

_Nothing,_ Brian said firmly. _He's just worried. Baxter took his concern the wrong way and Dinah hates my father._

There was more than a little anger now. He'd forgive anything against himself, but not against his father.

_Here,_ Brian said. _I can show you part of it, at least. The parts she probably does have a right to be mad at me about._

Just part of it—he even made me promise not to poke around before he'd show me. No trust.

_The winter air should be chilly, but it's not. We're melting the snow faster than it's cooling us. It's not the cold that's making my younger brother shake._

_"Jacob—"_

_"Sent his imprint as far away as he could," Dad says calmly. "He allowed her to be raised by our natural enemies. And he still wishes she were nearer."_

_"You just can't stand the way he was always better than you."_

_"Bax." It's the only thing I can think to say. My brother didn't use to be cruel; when we were little he'd confess if anyone ever got blamed for something he'd done. But right this second I think he'd happily hit our father (even knowing it could kill him) if Levi hadn't drilled it into his head that we do not touch non-werewolves like that._

_"Why do you even get a say?" Baxter calms down (he looks just like Dad, then, as he turns to face me; he looks more like Dad than Dad does nowadays). "We aren't your pack. Brian imprinted more recently than you have. He's not with Ginger so—"_

_"Yet," my father says. "And it's never been fair to Dinah that your brother's attention is focused away from her."_

_"Dinah wouldn't put up with that."_

_No wonder he's always gotten along with my girlfriend, no wonder he'd listen to her even when he stopped listening to me. The two of them are always so foolishly sure._

_"But I don't..." If I can't admit it to my father and my brother, who can I admit it to? "She's not the only thing that matters any more. She used to be—but she's not any more."_

_My father says, "It's never been fair to her. Or your brother. She's demanding that he give up the kind of perfection she can't ever imagine. That you can't imagine until you experience. That you can't resist. Ask Levi."_

_Baxter glances over at me and we both don't know what to say to that. There's no one more stubborn than our Alpha but he's never going to be what you call discreet. He's not exactly uninterested in our sister no matter how much he likes Kara. It's hard to pretend otherwise. If Levi can't do it—_

_"Levi indulging in his stupid fantasies does not mean he loves her."_

_"It's the beginning of that," I say._

_"I bet you he couldn't even tell you what color her eyes were. If that's imprinting—"_

_"Imprinting is knowing that everything is okay when she's beside you. It's having nothing else matter—nothing else, no matter what you promised to anyone else—when she walks into the room, except seeing her smile. It's having the world make sense and everything, all the time spent patrolling and all the fights and the bruises and the scars be worth—"_

_"I wish Dinah could hear you now," Baxter spits. "She's not some afterthought."_

_"You can't understand," I say sadly._

_"Don't let anyone get hurt just because you don't want to listen," my father says. Baxter's already storming away._

_Traitor, he thinks of me. It's all over his face. It's not betrayal. I warned her we couldn't go back, that I was always going to need Ginger now, but she didn't listen. But he's right, too. Dinah is not an afterthought._

_I glance at my father, who looks sick to his stomach. He can already see how this will play out._

Brian pushed me out then. I took a second to recover—he had already phased back.

"Dinah doesn't think he has a right to parent us. I disagree. It's better this way."

I wanted to strangle someone. I settled for telling Brian that I was taking him out that Friday night. It made him smile, just a little bit.

Then I went home and called my sister.

* * *

><p>Dinah was completely unapologetic. I could almost hear the steam coming out of her ears over the phone, she was still so angry.<p>

"Did that spineless wimp tell you what that sorry excuse for a father did?"

"Uh, sort of."

"He can't even do that," she realized. "He couldn't stand up to anyone if his life depended on it."

"Hey! Di, that's my friend you're talking about. Stop being a bitch or shut up."

"He made her _cry_, Levi. And Brian _defended_ him."

"What? Who?"

"Sam. That rat. The _nerve_."

"Made who cry?"

"Judy. And somehow Brian thought that was remotely acceptable."

"Sam made Judy cry?"

"Yeah. And Brian said, sorry, but that doesn't mean he's wrong."

"He made her cry?" Brian had brought me in mid-argument. "Sam was talking about imprinting. Sam—"

Disagreed with a lot of beliefs it was very important for my father's daughter to believe in.

"Relationships don't work if he's imprinted on someone else. There's nothing to be done, lay down like a good dog," my sister sneered, parroting Sam. "Just because he never learned to _try_, he thinks everyone else just has to give up."

I briefly entertained the idea of killing Sam; it wouldn't take long. It would make the breakup a moot point if he wasn't around. Artie might stop writing me songs, but I didn't need musical accompaniment. If the choice was between Sam the drunk, Sam the jackass and Sam the dead man, well, I think dead was the way to go.

I was kind of impressed the kid had managed to hold it together. Bert and Baxter looked out for my kid sister and it wasn't easy to hold back when our instincts told us to protect our own.

"You know Brian's stupid dumb about Sam."

"Why would I want to date someone who's stupid dumb? I already have you in my life."

"Stupid head." I was a little off today. "She okay?"

"Oh, she got over it in half a second. But that's not the point. She shouldn't have had to—I don't know why he still lets Sam near anyone."

"It's his dad, Di."

"So what?" Dinah sighed. "I know. It's just…he agrees with his dad. That I'm just—"

"You okay?"

"I will be. You look out for him, okay?"

"Yeah."

"Try not to call me too many names when you're cheering him up."

"He'd hit me if I did that."

"Yeah. He's a good guy." I didn't much like hearing Dinah sound like that. "And you tell Sam he just does _not_ talk to our sister."

"Yes, ma'am."

* * *

><p>What with our weird patrol schedules and work and school, it was another two days before I saw Judy. She was supposedly doing her homework, but was really watching television and she didn't seem upset. In fact, she was humming to herself. Maybe Sam wouldn't have to die, after all.<p>

"Hey, kiddo," I said as I dropped down beside her. "What's new with you?"

And the crazy girl just started beaming.

"Nothing."

"Okay." She was kind of cute. "You hear about Di and Brian?"

That made the smile fall. Her nose wrinkled and she nodded. "I don't think they're going to get back together a third time."

"Me neither."

"Dinah's still just mad. How's Brian doing?"

"Way too indifferent, but...I guess it's good."

"I'm worried about him," Judy said, using me as an excuse to put down her books and curl up on the couch. "And it's really awkward. It sucks, doesn't it?"

"Yeah. You okay?"

"Well, I did kind of want to be her maid of honour, but she'll find someone else. Oh! I totally hope it's Bert. That would be so super cute. Do you think he has any shot at all, now?"

"Well, hell might be cold."

My little sister kicked me. So I pinched her and we ended up wrestling a bit. After I crushed her, I tried to bring up the whole Sam-jackass thing. Subtly.

"Has Sam said anything to you lately that maybe upset you?"

"You know about that?"

"Well, I did ask why Dinah was torpedoing a relationship that's been going on for almost four years. Sam's an idiot. You know that, right? Dad would never leave."

"I know," she said simply. Good. "Mom's dumb for thinking he would."

"Hey! Don't insult my mother."

My sister rolled her eyes, bringing her legs up to her chest and resting her chin on her knees so she could observe me better. She was thinking and I left her to it, watching the television (she needed better taste in shows; the cartoons sucked).

"Levi? How did you know you were in love with Kara?"

"What?"

"How'd you know? Because I couldn't tell with Dan that just because he liked me didn't mean he liked me, you know? And even with Bert, I couldn't tell he was future bestest friend material and not—so, like, how do you tell? How do you think Dad could tell he more than really liked Mom?"

"That is so above my maturity level," I informed my sister. But I tried to answer her. It was my job to look out for her. "I don't really know, Jubes. With Mom and Dad, he figured it out because Embry told him, remember?"

She nodded, so I continued.

"I don't know about Kara. I just know, basically."

"What about with Francy?"

With Francy, I didn't know what I was doing. But Baxter's derisive dismissal had stuck with me. I did know what colour her eyes were, thank you very much. To imprint, I had to look her in the eye. But. But the kid wasn't totally wrong that I maybe didn't look his sister in the eye when I was talking to her.

"I don't know. When I think about her and her being happy, I don't immediately picture her doing any of whatever the hell she wants beside me. Kara…I want her beside me and I don't want to keep my hands to myself and that's how I know. And Dad would say the same thing. You know, without telling us the touching part because that would be gross."

My little sister giggled and hugged me.

"Levi?"

"No more hard questions, okay?"

"Um, did anyone tell you why Sam got all lecture-y in the first place?"

"Because he's a jackass?"

"Um, well, sort of. Sam, uh—we were going over some school stuff—currents make zero sense, but Baxter says if I just study more, I'll get it, but I still don't so—it's not my fault it's really boring—okay, so Sam was just trying to make sure nothing bad happened to me but—I was kind of getting it up until—um, so, uh. You know?"

It made no sense; but then, her face was so red I started figuring it out.

"Sam thinks you have a crush on his son?"

"Kind of," she whispered.

"His EIGHTEEN year old son?"

"His birthday's not for another—"

Sam was an idiot. He didn't have to lecture anybody. The solution to the problem was remarkably simple.

"Baxter touches you, I'll kill him."

"What?"

Okay, I probably should have eased into the death threats. "Jubes, the guy's way too old for you. WAY too old for you. And too serious. Why would you want to date someone who never smiles?"

"He just doesn't smile around you."

"Judy, I know he's the last werewolf left for you, but you can do better."

I could not watch her get her little heart broken AGAIN. Sure, Baxter put up with her and his devotion to Dinah meant he was always going to treat my sister well. His fury at his father told me now he liked her for her own sake (well, he would have been angry at Sam for interfering regardless). But as anything more than friends? For all that she was taller now, Judy was a kid still. Ruth had been—his ex-girlfriend was hot enough I'd do her and probably more mature in an hour than Judy could be in a year. Besides, Judy's enthusiasm usually made him wince.

"You don't think he could like me."

I hated when she did that; it wasn't fair that she could just read my mind sometimes.

"I think you could do better," I said truthfully. "But you would know better than I do if he—do you think he could like you in a crush kind of way?"

Judy just stared at me for a long while, her big dark eyes looking miserable. "He's been very clear he doesn't crush-like me," she said finally.

"Because he's an idiot."

"It's okay," she promised. "I don't crush-like him either. Sam's kind of slow."

"Good," I said as I settled back into the couch. I was not going to have my little sister get molested, thank you very much.

"Though we should do something special for his eighteenth birthday," my sister said. Parties. Now that I could help with.

* * *

><p>Brian moped, but we thought he took the whole thing pretty well. I took him out, annoyed him until he felt better and that was that. Will didn't even say anything about it because it was too much like last year, otherwise, when Brian would fire back that Will and Marley—well, this year, Will kept his mouth shut.<p>

With Seth and Bert out on patrol, I headed over to the Uley house the new week to find Artie was sitting on the front steps, flipping through music.

"Aren't you freezing?" I asked him.

"Nah. My hands are too calloused to feel the cold."

"I'm going to pretend that made sense. Got anything good to listen too?"

"I've got everything."

"You can't have everything," I pointed out. "Classical music?"

"Spice Girls, Elton John, the Beatles and Beethoven—every kind of classical you could think of. Rock, pop, show tunes, R&B, dance, heavy metal, rap—I've got it all. The only thing I don't have is country music."

"Why not?"

Artie snorted. "I'm not into music that only talks about trucks and dogs."

And normally I wouldn't care what a little punk kid thought about anything, but he just sounded so damn superior, I had to say, "I like trucks. And dogs. Especially dogs."

I think I made the kid blush. "Right. Of course you do. Obviously."

"I really like playing with my gun, too."

He choked a little; I felt bad. I hadn't meant to actually scare him.

"Relax," I told him. "I'm sure there's a rocker somewhere who sang a song about a dog. Let's listen to that."

"I have a werewolf playlist," he admitted.

He'd even put my theme song on it. Kid was okay.

_Evil bloodsucker, say goodbye!  
>Evil bloodsucker, you're going to die!<br>Evil bloodsucker, you'll end up a mess!  
>Levi Black is so the best!<em>

Damn straight.

Inside, I found my pack. Judy was still trying to beat _Zombie Assassin III: Alien Invasion_. Baxter was studying on the couch and ignoring her victory yells, while Brian was going over the shopping list Dinah had sent over and Will was extorting money from little children.

Well, that's what he would have called it.

"We have a winner," my cousin announced. "For the third week in a row, Timmy has kicked ass."

The kid did a victory dance around the kitchen table, much to his brother's annoyance. Brian smiled for the first time in days, even when Tommy threw a napkin at his brother's head. And then told Will, "You have to put money in the swear jar."

I snorted. Will was fucked. Shit. I was fucked.

"Since when do we have a swear jar?" Brian asked.

"Since when did ass count as swearing?" Will protested.

"Since Francy said so." It was creepy how the twins could do that.

"We should put up an official list of all the words you can't say," I suggested.

"One dollar per word," Tommy rattled off, "Unless it has four letters. Then it'll cost you five dollars. Ten dollars for stuff that's about being a girl. If it starts with an 'f' that's twenty. In all variations."

"Expensive," I whined. Because oh my god I was fucked.

"It starts with a 'c' and its only ten bucks?" Will asked. Brian hit him, but the twins were ready for it.

"No. For that we're supposed to kick you out of the house," Tommy began.

Timmy continued, "And she said to tell you she wants her car to be red."

It made Will laugh, so he gave the kids an IOU with a firm promise that he would be back tomorrow with the money. "And that's two dollars Tommy's earned for next week. I think your reign of terror is going to be over, Timmy."

"But I'm the king," Timmy insisted eagerly.

"Kings should get other people to buy them chocolate bars," Will said. "Got it? Good. The charts are marked, get to colouring."

The first twin to earn $3,000 got to pick which restaurant we'd all go out to celebrate. It wasn't much of a prize, but the twins were competitive. I knew Will was privately cheering on Tommy, who'd be happy going to McDonald's to celebrate instead of who knew where Timmy would make up, but as far as I knew he hadn't fudged the numbers yet. The race was close enough that it was still fair.

"You know," Brian said as the twins cleared off for the main room, "Not everything has to be about money."

"It does when you're poor," Will explained. Almost patiently, for him.

"They're having fun, Brian," I pointed out. They might not have understood it wasn't just a weird game (it was understood anything Will enjoyed would be a little weird). "You guys have any peanut butter left?"

"No. I don't feel comfortable with what they're doing."

"So what?" Will wondered. "It's legal, it's safe and they're fine with it. What does it matter if you're okay with it?

"Just get over it?" Brian asked.

"Pretty much."

"Did Francy ever get her job back?" I wondered. She had to quit to come back for Christmas, but no one had told me anything beyond that.

"Different club," Brian said bitterly. "Dinah said. My ex-girlfriend tells me more than my twin sister."

"Dinah only keep in touch to rub in your face how she doesn't need you."

"Thanks, Levi," he said sarcastically. "That makes me feel so much better."

"Sorry."

He sighed. "Come on, let's go. We're already late."

We headed out to the car. Sam was getting a ride home from my dad tonight; he'd probably be back before we were. They still only had one car. Will was thinking of selling his. Judy's sixteenth birthday was coming up and maybe Dad would be willing to take it off our hands to regift. She'd be devastated if she didn't get a hunk of metal to fix up all by herself (she and Dad had survived her car-less Christmas by hoping my mom would relent for her birthday).

"It bothers me," Brian admitted when we were alone in the car. "That Francy—Baxter says I don't get to let it bother me because it bothers her more but I can't stop wishing..."

"It bothers me, too. But what can you do?"

"I guess."

He fell silent; he'd started brooding lately. Obviously. I let him. We had just turned onto the road to Forks, when Brian asked me to pull over.

"I'll be right back," he said as he slipped out of the car, already stripping.

"What? Why?"

"I just—" He was frowning, too distracted to answer fully. "I forgot—I'll be right back."

He phased and took off before I could tell him we'd just use the plastic ones in the store. Annoying. That's what everyone was. But for all Brian was trying to be zen about the whole break up thing, for all that he would always pick his father's side over my sister's, he was still hurt and trying not to show it, so I tried to be patient.

Still. It shouldn't have taken him ten minutes to come back.

It wasn't even just I'm-bored-so-it-felt-like-ten-minutes. According to the clock, it was actually ten minutes. The air wasn't filled with howling (and Seth was on patrol—the rest of my pack might get jumped and forget to howl for help, but the possibility of something sneaking up on Seth _and_ him forgetting to call for help was nonexistent), so I figured something had come up with the kids. When everyone was home (plus Will and Judy) it was far too many people at once. And the boys had been giving Brian a hard time since they heard their precious Dinah wasn't going to be their sister-in-law.

So I turned the car around and drove back.

Artie and the twins were standing on the driveway, waiting for me. It was weird.

"Baxter said to wait outside," Artie explained. His eyes were bugging out. I really didn't like it when kids freaked out, so I promised he'd be okay. Then, since the air was filled only with the scent of werewolves, I tried to decide which Uley brother I was going to kill. Baxter. Obviously. It wasn't even a choice.

My anger fled the second I walked into the hallway. Normally, you could see from the hall all the way to the back wall of the kitchen. Right then, all I saw was the backyard.

That's when I heard Judy crying.

Phasing on the fly happened when I got mad; the sound of my little sister crying her guts out didn't piss me off. It made me nauseous. So I didn't phase; I just raced through that house faster than a human could see.

Last year, I'd gone through a wall. I could guess what had happened here.

In the backyard, my sister was curled up beside a familiar silver wolf, her hands shaking as they hovered over our cousin, too scared to touch him. The fur wasn't doing a very good job of hiding the blood that seemed to be covering him. Sam was beside her, trying to talk her into moving away, trying to talk Will into phasing back.

The black wolf at the end of the backyard phased back when he saw me. Baxter hurried over, saying, "Seth's coming as fast as he can."

Judy whimpered (or maybe that was Will). I couldn't tell. Then Will phased back and I really, really didn't care what my sister was doing.

We'd be in plenty of fights together. I'd seen him with black eyes and broken arms and more bruises than anyone should ever have, but I had never seen him with glass in his back, his shoulder half chewed off, breathing like he couldn't—

After I threw up, I felt a lot better.


	12. Chapter 12

"What the hell?"

Since Baxter seemed to be the only one capable of speaking (Judy kept crying and Will started coughing up blood—Sam was trying to get him to keep still), I addressed him.

"I—they got into a fight."

"Who?"

"Will and Brian."

"Brian did this?" I think I might have laughed. "Your brother can't even fight Bert."

"That's not Bert," Baxter said. "They got into a fight. I pulled Brian off. You showed up."

There were scratches on the kid's torso that I hadn't noticed before. Will was shit when it came to fighting on the fly. I'd always wondered what would happen if he got caught off guard. I'd wondered, too, if Brian could ever get mad enough to fight properly. Now I had my answers.

Sort of. From the damage on my cousin, I was inclined to say it hadn't been much of a fight. Brian had gotten the advantage and pressed it until his brother realized Will couldn't actually take anything else.

"You have to be okay," Judy blubbered. "Okay, you have to—you have to—"

"He'll be fine," Sam assured her. But he kept glancing at the trees, looking for Seth. Sam didn't worry, especially not about my cousin, so it just freaked the two of us out more.

"Get her out of here," I told Baxter.

Where the fuck was my uncle?

Baxter accepted the order without complaint. With ease, he pulled my sister to her feet. She buried herself against him, sobbing into his chest. I wasn't sure how they were supposed to move like that, but the kid managed (he just picked her right up). "Come on, jelly bug. Let's get inside."

She just started wailing.

"Just in case you wanted a headache on top of everything," I observed while not looking at what was left of his shoulder. "You better be okay. I can't mock her without you."

The laughter ended with him coughing up more blood. It made all three of us wince. Thankfully, Seth _finally_ emerged from the woods, a wide-eyed Bert behind him. I had been freaking out, but watching the kid have a full on nervous break in front of me snapped me out of it. It would suck for him to lose Will and his sister within a year—how in the world could I make that better?

"We need to get him inside," Seth said.

"My room big enough?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. We move slowly. Bert—" It took only a glance at Bert to tell he wasn't going to be able to move any time soon.

Sam called out: "Baxter!"

The four of us managed to carry Will inside without jostling him too much. Seth hadn't had time to grab much in the way of medical equipment, so he set about ordering me to go to the Cullen house. I wanted to refuse but Seth started being reasonable (I was the fastest) so I raced there and back again.

When I returned, Seth had Nessie on the phone, her voice coming over the speaker as Seth did her bidding. Now that I was back with supplies, she quickly ordered, "All right. Give him the morphine so we can—"

Whatever she said was cut off by this _sound _my cousin made.

"He doesn't want it," Sam translated.

"What?"

"Morphine," I supplied.

"Seth will monitor the dosage," she said. "Once the morphine's been administered—"

"No morphine," Sam said firmly. And my cousin chose now of all moments to agree with Sam fucking Uley.

"What if we gave him a non-narcotic painkiller?" Nessie said.

Seth cringed as he looked through the bag. "All we have is the morphine. We've never not been able to use it. Can we do this without anything?"

"Not if the damage to the chest is—I'm not helping you torture anyone. It's not a stimulant. Give him the morphine."

"Will," my uncle began, "I know you think you can take it, but, well, even if you could you shouldn't have to. Narcotics aren't—it's different. You can take this."

It was almost as if they had rehearsed it. Sam stepped in so seamlessly (one pack, after all) that it took me a second to realize Seth had stopped talking and wasn't the one saying, "We'll be careful. Watch how much you take. You need to relax. Trust them."

Will glanced at me, but if he was begging me to overrule the damn doctor, he should have tried to look like he wasn't in horrible pain.

"Give it to him," I said. He was too weak to even roll his eyes, so Will stopped fighting and let Seth give him the drugs. As he was doing that, my uncle ordered, "Get out of here, Levi."

"I have to stay."

"Levi," Seth said, "I don't exactly know what I'm doing. Not when it's this bad. I have to listen carefully. I can't do that if I'm also worried about you. Okay?"

"Send in Baxter," Sam offered. "He can come out with updates when we have them."

So I left. Baxter had found some pants, but now had two sobbing kids on him (not to mention his three brothers standing down the hall, looking petrified). My sister had taken his lap; it looked like Bert was trying to crawl into her lap. Baxter didn't mind when we switched. Like me, I think he preferred doing something to just sitting around.

"Judy?" I had to calm her down before she terrified the rest of them beyond what I could handle. "Do you know what happened?"

Judy shook her head, sniffling but trying to focus. "We were just playing and Brian came home and they were just talking—they didn't even yell. I wasn't listening. And then all of a sudden Will just flew past us. Brian had phased and—I—I threw pillows and toys...I would have phased but—"

"You did the right thing," I said quickly. If they were doing that to each other, Judy would have been torn to pieces in the crossfire.

"I was just so scared. They just…it kept going on. It felt like forever and then Baxter was back—"

"Back from where?"

"What?"

"He told us to go outside," Timmy offered. "Told us to wait out there until he came to get us."

"Wouldn't even let us grab our coats," Tommy complained.

"And when Baxter came back?" I asked my sister.

"He phased and got Brian off Will and then—" Her voice went up three octaves, high enough I was surprised glass didn't break. "He just wasn't moving. He just…there was so much blood and he wasn't moving…"

We fought all the time. It hadn't been the blood that scared her even if she probably had never seen that much coming out of one person before. It would have been the way he couldn't just shrug it off.

"He's going to be fine," I reminded her. "Hey, Art? You got some music or something we could listen to?"

The kid stared at me, but when I repeated my request, he went to find something. "He's going to be fine, Judy," I said again, trying to make it as much of an order as I could. Bert needed her to not be flipping out. And maybe she got that too, because she finally started pulling herself together.

"Okay." Then she took Bert's hand and ruffled his hair and settled in his lap instead.

"I'm going to call Aunt Rachel," I said. "You five okay for a second?"

They nodded and I began spreading the news. Will had been in a fight, but Seth was looking after him and he'd be fine. My aunt came over anyway, but Seth kept her out of the room. She got the same updates I did. He'd be fine, if people would just let Seth do what he could. Having my aunt around was useful for dinner though; she did the cooking while I started cleaning up the living room and my father came over to figure out how the hell we were going to keep the winter weather out of the house.

Eventually, Baxter came out with actual good news.

"He's going to be fine."

I may have hugged the boy. Baxter patted me once on the back and I realized how lame this was.

"He's awake?"

"No. Seth says to leave him be for now." Baxter hesitated, then said, "I'm going to go find my brother, okay?"

The wolf part of me said it was my job, never mind that it bristled at the claim in his voice. It was the first time in a long while sine he'd said brother and meant it, so I made myself stand down. "What are you going to say?"

He just shrugged. "What the hell too blunt?"

"What the fuck was my first instinct," I admitted. "But after that?"

"I don't know. But he'll want to know Will is fine. If he wants someone to hit him, I'll bring him back to you."

"Okay. Go."

"Thanks."

He took off and I went see if my dad needed any help.

* * *

><p>The combination of drugs and pain knocked Will out for a little while. It didn't last long; he'd never been big on resting. Around three in the morning Sam came to wake me up from where I was sleeping on the couch; Will was awake but wasn't going to take anything else until he saw me (yeah, nothing was going to beat the annoying out of him; I'd been trying for years). I went and woke Bert up because we hadn't been able to get the kid to leave the house just yet. He followed along after me and I understood why Dinah had decided to call him puppy.<p>

"You look like shit," I said when I saw Will because it was expected (and true). I wanted to hit myself when I remembered the last time I'd said that to him, but he didn't see to remember, just turned to Bert and said, "I'm fine. I look better than Levi, right?"

Bert just nodded.

"Traitor," I said, ruffling the kid's hair. I don't know what we would have done if he'd started crying, but he didn't, so that was one less crisis for the night. "I can't believe you finally figured out how to turn him into a fighter."

"Good for me."

"What did you say?"

"Something about the twins. He said something about me being a terrible influence. Nothing original. I didn't—I was looking at the bank statements. I wasn't paying attention to what I was saying."

"I always said you could be annoying without trying."

"I already knew that one, too." He managed to pat Bert on the arm, though I didn't like the sound of wheezing that accompanied the gesture (of course he would use his bad arm). "Where is Brian? I figured he'd be grovelling and I was kind of looking forward to it."

"Baxter's gone to get him."

"Dinah's going to kill him," Bert said for me.

Will sighed, closed his eyes for a second, leaning back into the pillow behind his head. There was blood on the sheets, but they'd get rid of that later, when he could move. "Remind me to laugh about that later, okay?"

"Levi," Seth said.

Right. Stupid limits.

"Try not to piss off anyone else," I said before I got kicked out of the room. He nodded and let Seth stick him with another needle—it helped the crease in his forehead relax a little, so I figured it was a good thing.

* * *

><p>I stayed at the Uley house that night and when I got up the next morning, it was to find Brian and Baxter were coming in. Brian was scratched and bruised, but there was nothing that Seth had to look at immediately, so I gestured to the back yard and Brian followed without a word.<p>

"So?" Then I quickly had to add, "You start crying on him, he's never going to let you live it down. Pull it together."

"He is going to be okay, right?" Brian asked once he stopped looking weepy.

"He'll be fine. You didn't even manage to scratch his face so it would stick."

His left shoulder and side would have a few scars, but nothing too obvious.

Brian looked like he was going to puke, but settled for saying, "Please don't joke about this."

"You want to tell me what happened?"

Brian looked at the picnic table that had gotten smashed in the crossfire. "Francy's going to kill me for breaking that."

"Brian."

"She used to tell me everything. But now...she's a _stripper_. She didn't tell me. She still doesn't know I know—" I did not point out that his attitude had probably tipped her off; also, Dinah "—but she hasn't told me. But she told Will."

"What?"

"He knows, Levi. She told him. She didn't tell me. Hell, you're her imprint and she did her best to avoid telling you."

I know he was suffering and depressed and miserable, but I ended up laughing in Brian's face.

"Are you jealous of _Will_ and your sister? Seriously, Brian?"

"She told him—"

"Probably, he just figured it out because I have a big mouth," I admitted. "And even if she did tell him, Brian, who cares? It's not Will's fault you're fucking up your relationship with her."

"It doesn't bother you that she's telling him things she's not telling you?"

It really was jealousy. This was hysterical.

"No."

"It doesn't?"

"Why would it bother me? If she can't talk to you, at least she's talking to someone. If we need to know, he'll tell us—well, he'll tell me."

"It really doesn't bother you?" I just shrugged, starting to get unsure about what he wanted me to say. "I just—I can't believe I lost her, too."

"She's not going anywhere. She's still your sister."

"She doesn't want to be."

"Bullshit." I didn't say more than that because I wasn't a hundred percent sure that I was right. "Anyway, none of that's Will's fault."

Brian nodded. "I know. I was out of line. Totally out of line. I don't know what happened, I just—I got so mad and he was just there. He always—"

"Yeah, he goes around daring people to hit him. I know. Don't let it happen again."

Brian nodded quickly. If Brian ever forgave himself, I'd be surprised. Still, I wasn't above a little bit of cruel justice.

"Good. Now just go talk it out with him."

They didn't talk so much as Will just laughed at Brian. It was a special laugh, one he saved for when he thought someone was being particularly moronic. It warmed the cockles of my heart, or something, that it was directed at someone else (it worried me a little, too, because the effort seemed to take a lot out of him, but Seth said he'd be fine, so I had to trust my pack).

"All this because you're scared to talk to a girl?"

I corrected: "I think it's more because a girl isn't scared to talk to you."

Will just rolled his eyes. "I make everyone tell me about their work."

"She didn't _have_ to tell you she was a stripper," Brian muttered.

"Go-go dancer," Will corrected absently. He paused over the words. "You put me through a wall because I said you were calling your sister the wrong name?"

"She hasn't told me either way."

"Did you ask her?"

"She's my sister."

"That's not a yes, Brian." It was reassuring to hear Will get angry. "Have you talked to your sister? Not had Dinah pass along messages or told her about your brothers, but actually talked to her? Spoken with the purpose of exchanging ideas? Because if it's bugging you that she won't talk to you, _pick up the phone_."

He wouldn't do it. Both Will and I could tell. It was too hard, not when he didn't recognize the girl on the other side.

Will continued, "Fine. Keep talking at her instead of to her. It's your business. But the next time you can't deal with her, don't put _me_ through a wall."

"Turnabout's fair play," I reminded Will.

"I'm really sorry about that," Brian murmured. "I—"

"Well, I deserved it," Will said. "Not over your stupid sister, but—yeah, I deserved it. But I'll try to keep my mouth shut more, you won't rub it in that you totally kicked my ass and we'll be good."

"You really did." I couldn't help myself. "It was pathetic."

"Levi," Brian cautioned me, "Wait until he can hit you back. Otherwise, it's not nice."

"Bet you Bert could beat you," I told Will. He just flipped me off; he was too tired to do much else.

Brian realized it too. "I'll make sure the boys don't bother you. Get some rest. You look like shit."

"Both of you owe five bucks to the swear jar," Will reminded us as we left him alone with the pillows and the books his mother had sent over with his father.

* * *

><p>One of the boys must have spilled the beans to their sister (I didn't really blame them; there was a gaping hole in their house that we were frantic to fix, for cheap, before Will got well enough to get out of bed and observed it for himself and then crucified Brian for the cost of the property damage) because Dinah showed up at my house the next morning.<p>

"Not that Francy's freaking out that she left her brothers to the care of a drunk and an abusive prick, but she's kind of freaking out that she left her brothers to the care of a drunk and an abusive prick."

"Brian wouldn't hurt a hair on those kids."

"Brian just tried to kill someone."

"It takes a hell of a lot more than that to kill one of us."

"Well, bully for Brian."

"Will's fine, Di."

"Yeah, I don't care that our cousin is too fucked up to realize someone trying to kill him isn't a declaration of love."

"Right now Brian feels guilty enough without you being, well, you."

"Sorry accountability's a bitch."

"It wasn't personal, you know," I reminded her. "He was just trying to do what Sam wanted."

I'd always known psychic powers weren't real as a child because that Clearwater glare should have set things on fire. I guess she didn't want to talk about the break up.

"Sorry I brought it up."

"It's fine." Only she said it in the way even I could figure out she meant the opposite.

"Good. So, um, hey, Di? Have Brian and Francy talked since—"

"No," my big sister snapped.

"Right. Have Brian and Sam talked—?"

"Please."

"Francy and Sam—"

"Ha."

"Good talking to you."

With a little less anger, Dinah said, "Shouldn't you be at work?"

"Mom doesn't really need me. I'll be at Sam's."

Dinah finally let me go.

* * *

><p>We had asked around La Push, where someone always knew someone, and the repair guys were coming the next day. If Seth hadn't ordered Will to stay in bed for at least three days the house would have been deserted. I was trying to work out if having Will around was going to end up being very, very, very bad for convincing Francy we were totally harmless, or if I could use him to point out Sam wasn't entirely useless nowadays.<p>

Only Will wasn't there.

Francy was alone in the house, stripping the bloody sheets off her father's bed when I arrived. She was in this extremely tight and fuzzy white sweater and these jeans that made her legs look never-ending and I couldn't even enjoy it.

"Please tell me he died during the night or I'm going to have to kill him." He was supposed to stay in bed.

"He might be wasting away, but William is still with us. He just decided he was going home," Francy explained. "The sheets are a write off. How am I supposed to get blood out of a mattress?"

"How'd he get out the door?"

"He wasn't limping, if that's what you meant. Water and soap?"

"How the hell he'd get out of bed?" His legs had only been a little scraped, but I didn't think he could have stood without more help than my imprint could provide (if she was dumb enough to help in the first place).

She brushed past me into the hallway; I followed her as she went looking through the closet for rags and some sort of cleaner. Bending over really worked for her.

"When William informed me he was going home or going off the painkillers, I called Paul to come get him. Yes, he probably shouldn't have been out of bed, but while I capable of many things, talking William out of his idiocy is not one of them." She looked triumphantly at a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and then glanced over at me. "He said it was only a couple broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder."

"Mostly." She was my imprint—and she gave good glare. "Dislocated was more partially bitten off. But they aren't sure how many ribs broke and how many just cracked, exactly, so it might have just been a couple. Something that created a lot of blood and some organs were hit, but that's all covered by the broken ribs. He did leave out the collapsed lung."

The initial impact hadn't helped him but the real problem was that Brian had tossed him around like a ragdoll because my cousin was an idiot who didn't know how to defend his left side.

Her knuckles turned white around the hydrogen peroxide but Francy continued looking through the closet until she had a bunch of rags, before she walked back to her father's room. For whatever reason, she pulled her sweater off, showing off her perfectly toned stomach before she readjusted the camisole she had been wearing underneath.

"You can't have been home for more than thirty minutes," I said because I had to say something while she undressed. "How fast did he get out of here?"

"Apparently, in less than thirty minutes." She was on all four right now, on a bed, though turned so I couldn't see right down her shirt. "Levi. Is there something you want?"

"You didn't have to come home."

"I didn't?" Her voice got cold and I was reminded why she was going to make a great teacher—her 'that was the dumbest thing I've ever heard' look was spectacular. "I was under the opposite impression."

"All you have to do is tell me what your problem is and I can fix it for you."

"You want to know what my problem is?" Francy asked, disbelief ringing in her voice as she left the blood stain and got to her feet. "You want to—there is a hole. In my house. Made by my brother. With a person. I don't think _my problem_ requires much more of an explanation."

"He lost his temper. It won't happen again."

"Oh, now that you've promised me that I feel so much better," she assured me.

It may have been sarcasm.

"Brian would _never_ lay a finger on your brothers. Baxter spent months trying to pick a fight and he never managed because Brian would never hurt them. Will's just—it's his magical power. But Brian won't hurt the kids."

"I thought my brother would never, ever hurt another person."

"What we do to each other doesn't count. We know what each of us can take. Fighting's just our way. We're not the same."

"Because you say so?"

"Because if I knock too hard on your door it's not my knuckles that are going to get hurt, it's the _door_. If there's nothing to fight, we need to train with each other. I'm not saying Brian didn't go too far. Just that what we do to one another isn't a sign of what we'll do to a human."

"And what happens the day you forget the person you're with can't take it?"

"We're careful around them."

"Don't." The word cracked; I think she was going to cry. "Don't tell me—I know what a werewolf can do even if they're careful, so don't tell me _it couldn't happen_."

I liked it better when she was mad; I couldn't handle her if she was crying.

"We know more than they did." It was all I could offer. "Maybe it is still just a crapshoot, but at least we've got better odds."

She just looked miserable, arms wrapped around her, almost whispering, "And if something goes wrong, just shut about it? Sorry it happened but keeping it secret is more important than—than anything?"

"That's not what I said. If something goes wrong, you come to me. We'll fix it. Francy, I'm not saying everything's going to be perfect, I can't promise you that, but Brian is sorry and he won't hurt the kids."

"And there's nothing I can do anyway," she concluded.

"You mad at me?" I asked hesitantly when it didn't look like she was going to say anything else (or, thankfully, start to cry).

"It's not your fault. It's no one's fault, really, just..." She sighed. "Timothy's too good at telling stories. I may have...it doesn't help that I should have been the one looking after them while Brian went to school."

"Says who?"

"Everyone. No one. I don't know, Levi." She glanced back at the bed. "I should get back to that before it sets forever."

"Sure. But when Brian gets home from work, I think the two of you should use that alone time to talk."

"Levi—"

"All Brian wants is to know you don't hate him. Explain that there are some things you might not want to tell him, but that he's always your brother and then listen to him tell you that he loves you, even if he's worried and it sometimes comes out wrong. Okay?"

"Does anyone ever say no to you?"

"It's a skill," I said. It made her laugh. "Seriously, though. Talk to him. It'll make you feel better, too. They'll be fine without you. Your dad really is getting better, Baxter's eighteen in two weeks and Brian's having a bad month but I think...I think this was good for him. He got it off his chest." I snorted. "Hopefully next time he'll just use his words, but at this point I'll take what I can get. Baxter's really talking to him again, he's finally got Will's respect—it'll work out. It's not as bad as it looks. It's all good here."

"You're very good at that," she murmured. "You should have been a motivational speaker. Or a physical trainer."

"Thank you?"

She just laughed.

"So, uh, is Dinah going to be okay?"

"Dinah's always fine," she said flatly. Perhaps she realized how not reassuring that was because she continued, "It scared her more than she'll admit but she knows Brian wouldn't have—without sex complicating things, I think they'll remember they're best friends eventually. It'll just take time."

"Don't say sex and my sister's name in the same twenty minutes. It makes my brain hurt."

"Sorry. I forgot you were a prude."

"You really want to go there with me?"

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" she asked instead of dignifying that with a response.

"I don't just talk at you, right?" Her dark eyes (brown, thank you very much) just looked confused. "If you told me what you needed me to fix, I'd do it for you."

"Levi, I—" She spoke slowly, hesitating over each word. "If I told you something, it wouldn't necessarily mean I wanted you to fix it. I'm very grateful for what you do for my family, you know. Very grateful. I just...I don't need you to take care of me. And I'm not sure you could help yourself if you decided I needed help."

Okay, so that wasn't totally inaccurate. "What if I decided I needed your help?"

"Then I would help you, I guess."

"Okay, help me."

"Do what?"

"I don't know. Any advice?"

"I can't say I know anything about killing vampires."

"Well, what about your brothers? You know them. They annoy me sometimes. Advise me about them."

"Well." I didn't think she'd do it, but it turned out my imprint was competitive. Who would have thought? "You really should talk your sister out of that party because Baxter hates surprises. He really, really hates surprises; it would be a huge mistake. And Thomas has a crush on this girl who likes Timothy, so he feels like he can't tell his twin and its breaking his heart."

"Nothing I can do about that."

"My very good advice is that the solution he comes up with better not be _share_."

"We didn't—I do watch what I say around them." Okay, fine. "I try my best. I'll do better. Give me something I can actually fix."

"You serious about this?"

"I don't joke around when it comes to my pack. Okay, I do, but—I'm serious. When it comes to them, I take all the help I can get."

"Okay. Talk to Bertrand."

"Will's handling that."

"Yes, but, just, Levi, there's only so much that we remember. I mean, all Lena and I talked about were guys and her brother doesn't want to hear that. And Will—I'm sure he picked up a lot but it's not—how is he supposed to know what song she danced to at her tap recital when she was twelve?"

I couldn't help laughing because Marley trying to dance was always funny.

"Just talk to him," she suggested. "Because he's picked everyone else's brain. Also, Judith is more grown up than you give her credit for and you should leave Arthur to Baxter and me, okay? But start calling him Art."

"What? Fine."

"And...well, you haven't called your girlfriend in a long while and she's spent the last twenty-four hours in a state of panic so—"

"Wait, what?"

"Kara?"

"Thank you," I snapped. "I know her name."

"Yes, well, she started hyperventilating the last time I was talking to her."

"What? Why?"

"Because after William and Brian comes you. And it wasn't me she wanted reassuring her."

We'd been having a crisis; I was busy.

"But you did, right? You told her—"

"Yes. The same way I am going to tell Brian that I understand what he does to his pack brother doesn't really count and that I know he'd never hurt my brothers. They're perfectly safe in his care. You know, I think I came back because if I'm going to lie to my brothers I'm going to do it to their faces."

"It's not—"

"It's impossible for you to be as careful as you need to be for it to be true. You do your best, right? I'll make myself be okay with that."

"I am sorry."

"I know." She gave me a tired smile. "It does make a difference, knowing that."

"Cancel the surprise party?"

"Oh, definitely."

"Right. Talk to Brian?"

She nodded. Slowly, but it was definitely a nod. I'd take it.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Billy is alive in this story. Not a main character by any stretch of the imagination, but definitely not dead. He showed up briefly in Growing Pains to laugh at his grandsons. If I did reference him as dead, please tell me where because...whoops.

* * *

><p>I went to my mother's office afterwards and did the butt monkey work she ordered me to do. Then I ran the afternoon patrol by myself and once I figured I'd given them enough time, I dropped by the Uley place yet again. Brian and his sister were in the same room so I counted it as a victory. I was even glad Will had taken himself home because it probably wasn't the most relaxing environment for an injured person. The Uley boys had always been a loud crowd and with my sister added into the mix it was ear drumming splitting. I grabbed my sister and we headed home.<p>

"Where'd you leave Bert?" I asked as we went.

"I took him home with me first." My little sister cackled. "Because I'm a genius."

Bert wasn't a genius. English was probably the one subject the kid was doing well in. We picked a few subjects and helped him not fail those so at least the whole year wasn't a write off. It was pretty hard not to fall behind if you were a werewolf; Baxter was absolutely unbearable trying to do well and be a werewolf at the same time.

Still, it looked like the kid needed more help. He was currently sitting across the kitchen table from my very unimpressed big sister, who was reading his homework. Judy gave him a thumbs up sign and I couldn't help but wink—the kid just blushed and went back to staring at Dinah like she was glowing.

Judy and I collapsed on the couch, totally not spying on anyone. Dinah was lecturing, "So rewrite that keeping what we talked about in mind and you should be—"

"I have to go see Will tonight."

"Time management, puppy. The only useful thing you learn in high school. Keep your meeting short and put in the work."

"But Di—"

"Hey, fine. Ignore me. I don't care. It's not like I'm trying to help you improve your writing and pass high school and become a more productive citizen."

"I think you're exaggerating to prove a point."

"Possibly. Fix the paper first. It won't take long."

"I will if you stop calling me puppy."

Finally, the kid had grown a back bone. Maybe all the sobbing had made him a man. Or maybe it was because Dinah was single, even if she was way older and kind of repulsed by him.

"You're making demands about doing _your_ homework? Am I supposed to care?"

"I'll do it if you stop calling me puppy," he repeated. Beside me, Judy had buried her head under the pillow, unable to watch, but was crossing her fingers so tightly together, the tip of her pointer fingers were white.

"Don't give me those puppy dog eyes."

"I'm just looking at you."

"You can stop doing that, too."

"Okay."

Dinah probably disapproved of the pathetic puppy dog voice, too, but all she said was, "I will possibly reconsider scowling meanly, if you want."

"Unnecessary adjective," he muttered.

"True," my sister said after a moment. "Nice catch there, tiger."

"Genius," Judy mouthed at me, so I hit her with a pillow.

* * *

><p>I walked Bert home that night. We didn't talk much as a rule, but since Judy's little breakdown the other day I figured she wouldn't be able to reassure him. Normally I would have left it to Will, but he had enough to worry about with getting better and I could talk to Bert. How hard could it be?<p>

"How are you doing?" I asked him.

"Fine."

Except for the part where I had never really had a heart-to-heart with the kid and had no idea how to go about doing that.

"Your parents okay?"

"I couldn't find a statistic about people divorcing after the death of a child. And Marely wasn't really a child, so I don't know." He shrugged. "I think they're doing okay."

Right.

"Okay, look, I don't really know what I'm supposed to say. But, uh, Will's going to be fine. And even if something happened to him, you'd still have the rest of us. Okay?"

The kid looked at me with these huge hazel eyes. Her eyes had been hazel, too, but greener. Happier, too. I'd never seen her look like this.

"It wouldn't be the same," he said finally. "The rest of you don't—"

"What?" I said as gently as I could. I wanted to prod him to talk to me, but not so hard that he'd start crying.

"Sometimes I forget things. Will remembers. About the way she'd play with her hair when she was nervous or how she couldn't snap with her right hand or her favourite way of getting rid of hiccups or...just the stuff I don't remember."

"Yeah, but the important stuff, you don't need anyone's help remembering. You were always—she thought you were awesome, you know?"

"Yeah?"

The disbelief and the hope and the grief kind of hit me all in the gut. I was not cut out for this sort of thing. "Yeah. Of course."

I'm not sure he knew he was shaking his head. "You're just saying that."

It was the hope that got to me, the way he had lit up like I hadn't seen him do in forever, not even around Dinah. He'd never been the most outgoing guy, but he'd been lighter and the hope made him look like—it made it easier to pretend he didn't have a dead sister.

"We're going to go phase and I'm going to show you something, okay? Only—I don't want you to show it to anyone else. I really, really need you to not show it to anyone. And to know that anything I think then—I'm an idiot, okay? Ignore all of that and just listen to her. Please?"

"Okay." The kid frowned but he followed me into the woods.

"_You're sulking."_

_It should annoy me but Marley stumbles over the last porch step and ends up half in my lap, so I'm not going to complain._

"_I am not."_

"_And you're hand's on my butt, cuz."_

"_You're just drunk."_

_"I'm little drunk. You're medium drunk. And big sulk." As she rolls off of me, she takes my beer with her. It's mostly empty because tonight kind of sucks, even if she is in this slinky red thing and an almost matching lacy red bra that doesn't want to stay covered._

"_I'm not sulking."_

"_You're sulking, Levi. There's a party inside and you're outside. It makes no sense." She finally notices her dress has slipped and she's pissed because it won't stay up, but there are worse sights than seeing Marlena Call push her chest around. "See? You're staring at my boobs and you're still not smiling. You're sulking."_

"_Shut up, cuz," I say with a laugh. "Fine. I'm sulking."_

"_Told you so." After she takes a sip, she hands me my beer back. "You were supposed to have a good time tonight."_

"_He could be dead. Or dying. Or—I don't know what he could be doing because he fell off the face of the planet."_

"_Levi," she says as she scuttles closer, legs in my lap (I think she might be braiding my hair, but it feels nice so I'm not going to stop her), "Dude. Even I knew Will Lahote was going to take off one day and never come back. It doesn't mean he's dead. He's just…not here."_

"_He didn't even leave me a note." And I sound three, but she puts her head on my shoulder so it's okay._

"_If he had left you a note, you would have stopped him. Or gone with him. And that would have sucked."_

"_Your boob is vibrating."_

_Marley checks her phone (after she digs around—it only occurs to me to offer to help once she's finished). "Just Ray," she says, putting the phone down beside her. "_He's_ inside."_

"_I'll go in," I promise. "I just…what do I do without him?"_

"_Well, first off, you need to start coming to school more."_

"_Fuck no."_

"_Fuck yes. I'm there," she says with a grin, forcing me to smile back. "You come and we'll pass notes and you'll love it. Then you need to get some friends that I can talk to because, ew, the guys you hang around now suck and I refuse to talk to them."_

"_They aren't that bad."_

"_Mike told Fran a ride on his dick was worth three hundred bucks. You're friends are sketch."_

"_They're more Will's friends."_

"_So it'll be easy to get rid of them. Then I'll be able to invite you to stuff without worrying about who you'll show up with. I'll finally be prettier than all your friends."_

_And I might be drunk, but she's grinning so evilly that I figure her out. "You called Will pretty to his face, didn't you?"_

_"Oh, all the time." It might be a little late, but at least I finally figured out why he hated her so much. "It's the word! I have no choice. It's the eyelashes. I'd kill for eyelashes like that."_

"_You're nuts, you know?"_

"_You just say that because I drive you crazy." She's biting her lower lip and I kind of want to—even on vibrate, her phone is way too loud._

"_Ray again?"_

"_He likes me," she explains as she texts him back._

"_I like you and I don't text you every five fucking minutes. That's some needy bullshit."_

"_You text me enough that my boyfriend checks in every five minutes, cousin." But she hands me her phone and if it somehow ends up in the forest behind her house, we can find it later._

"_Whoops."_

"_You're so helping me find that tomorrow morning."_

"_I plan to be hung over tomorrow morning."_

_She tugs on my hair. "Help or I won't do that ever again."_

"_Not even if I beg?"_

_She laughs as she tries to stand up, hand on my shoulder to steady herself even if it doesn't work well. When I stand up, hanging onto her doesn't help steady me that much, either, but it doesn't really convince me to let go of her._

"_Be good, Levi."_

"_But if I'm bad you can lock me up."_

"_I always thought you'd be the one with the handcuffs," she says. She's a lot of things, but graceful isn't one of them. Walking backwards up the stairs in those heels while half-drunk means she's got to lean on me a lot more than poor Ray will like. "And a badge and a big stick."_

"_I have the big stick already."_

"_I bet you do."_

_We're eye to eye now and she's leaning against my chest and the smell of oranges from her hair is making me kind of hungry. And want to kiss her, but I usually want to do that anyway._

_"Thanks for coming out here," I say softly. Her cheek is soft and she has the tiniest hint of a curl right by her ear. I try to tuck it back because she always complains when it's in her face, but it doesn't want to go._

_"Be good, Levi." _

"_I'm better than good, cuz." She gives me half a grin and that's all I need. "I'm sorry I was sulking. I just...I miss him." His parents don't even care he's gone. Someone should miss him._

_"I get it." I snort and she protests. "I do. Every time Bertie goes to visit my grandparents without me I bawl every night until he comes back."_

_"Seriously? You miss the dweeb that much?"_

_"You miss _Will_. And my brother is the most awesome dweeb ever. Fact."_

_"I challenge your fact."_

_She narrows her eyes (as best she can drunk and in the dark and it's like the most adorable thing ever). "Challenge accepted. Okay, so remember when Sugar Pie Dumpling 'ran away to join the circus'?"_

"_When really she just died from the embarrassment of being called that?" It hurts when she flicks me in the nose, but even she has to admit the name was not the best idea. Looking at her dog always made us hungry. "And I thought you were trying to convince me not to worry Will was dead?"_

"_He's not," she insists. "He's like those things—you know, like a vampire or a zombie or a," she mimes stabbing herself, "Unkillable monster type thing. Oh! Or like a cockroach."_

"_You did not just compare him to a cockroach."_

"_I just like saying cock-roach."_

"_Now you're trying to distract me." It was working, too._

"_Yes," she agrees. "Okay, but the whole point of all this is that when Sugar died—well, I thought she ran away, not that you should think Will is dead just because he ran away, but you totally know what I mean, right?"_

"_I do."_

"_So I was bawling in my room for days, totally miserable because she was a girl's best friend and fuzzy and cute and adorable…" She sniffs and lets me hug her as she remembers the old dog who's been dead seven years. "And one day I'm crying some more and Bertie knocks on my door and he's got Mr. Popsiclehead in his hand, the absolutely cutest stuffed polar bear you've ever seen, and he says that I can have him if I want because when you hold Mr. Popsiclehead you don't feel as sad."_

"A_re you crying?"_

_She swats me on the chest and tries to brush away her tears without wrecking her makeup. "Mr. Popsiclehead was like his best friend, Levi. Okay? And Bertie was a little kid, but he tried to give him to me just because I was sad. Like anyone's given you anything in your life. And no, Tessa giving you syphilis doesn't count."_

_Just because she was a whore, didn't mean she was diseased._

_"Cute."_

_Marley giggles, then says, "So, Bertie is the most awesome."_

_"Fact," we say together. She adds, "Also, just because you think you're all alone, doesn't mean you are."_

"_At least I'll have polar bears and dweeby brothers?"_

_"Uh, no. Those are mine. I don't share. How many other people would pretend I know how to cheat at poker?"_

_"Or do your chores for you?"_

_"Or let me dye their hair because I'm bored? Or buy me band-aids for my birthday with all my favourite Disney princesses on them? And even carry around an extra ice pack when we go for walks just in case?"_

_"All that kind of sounds like fun, actually."_

_"You'd let me dye your hair?"_

_"As long as you didn't dye it pink."_

_That gets me a bright smile, but she doesn't get a chance to answer because the back doors are pushed open and Lori and Ruth are standing there, not looking too happy to see me. I have that effect on some people; I know it's a good thing that she's not next to me anymore._

"_You okay?" Lori says, grabbing Marley by the arm and practically yanking her inside. "We've been looking for you forever."_

"_We need tequila," Marley announces, but she turns around before she leaves. "Levi?"_

"_Yeah?"_

_Her nails are red and they sparkle in the light from the house. Her fingers wave towards me as she laughs, all sweetness and light and sometimes I wish I did serious because she's got the best laugh I've ever heard._

"_School. Notes with me. It'll be the best."_

I phased back because I had stopped sulking then and gone to have fun and the kid didn't need to see that (or Dinah was going to kill me).

"We kind of stopped talking after I phased," I said as I started pulling on my clothes. "So I can't tell you what she thought right up until the end. But we'd have conversations like that before, where she thought you were the greatest. We'd have who has the better little sibling contests. And when you helped her to convert all that old music, she wouldn't shut up about how brilliant you were for like a month."

I finally glanced up; Bert gave me a tiny grin.

"She threw Mr. Popsiclehead at my head. Said she didn't want a stupid bear, she wanted Sugar back. I didn't know she even noticed I tried to help."

"Sometimes it's not about what you did, it's about what you tried to do."

The grin got a little bigger. "I guess if I'm going to trust anyone, it should be her, right? Will can survive anything."

"Uh, yeah. Just, uh—"

"Don't show anyone." Bert laughed. "You'd have been nuts to let her dye your hair. The bleach made mine fall out."

"Maybe bald was the look she was going for."

* * *

><p>Baxter turned eighteen at the beginning of February, which was a relief to his family. Now there was just Artie and the twins under eighteen so maybe everything would be fine. We did something small for his birthday, even though he didn't want us to (the stick in the mud). He did insist his sister didn't have to come back, which worked out because I was kind of in the doghouse with Kara and I figured it would be easier to get out without Francy around.<p>

I waited until after Judy and I had helped fix dinner at the Uley place one night and us werewolves were sitting outside on the badly patched table, enjoying our after dinner fullness, before I demanded my pack help me figure out what I was going to do for Valentine's Day.

"It had better be nice," Brian said. "You've been kind of ignoring her lately. Not that I don't appreciate the company, but—"

"She gets it. She understands. Just…"

"Presents make understanding easier," Judy explained.

"Yeah. So, what do I get her?"

"Well, it has to be cheap and you can't cook…maybe if you did something for her and her mom. I bet she'd really like that. Fix something around the house or something."

Judy suggested, "There's always flowers or pictures or pictures of flowers or maybe jewellery…"

Brian asked, "Do you have like some sort of old athletic jersey or watch that you could pass onto her? She'd like it if it was yours first."

"She'd look ridiculous in my old clothes."

"Well…" Judy and Brian went back and forth, trying to come up with ideas. They both agreed if I could figure out something for Kim I would definitely be golden, but they couldn't agree on what it should be. Eventually, Judy poked Baxter and demanded, "You could help."

"Valentine's Day," he said, "Is a stupid holiday."

If he kept that up—that and the being the most reliable, useful person in my pack—I was actually going to have to admit that he wasn't so bad after all.

"I would pick your words carefully," Brian suggested.

His brother ignored him. "If your relationship depends on giving a present one day a year, then you're doing something wrong. Besides, it's meaningless, commercialized nonsense."

"Well," Judy said briskly, "Just because Baxter's an idiot doesn't mean you don't have to buy Kara something."

"Hey," he protested, "Just because I think it's crap doesn't mean I'm not—I celebrate Valentine's Day. I just think it's stupid."

"Which is the point," I realized. "Ignoring how you think something is stupid and doing it anyway just because your girlfriend wants you to is basically what a relationship is."

"This is why I don't like talking to your brother," Baxter said to Judy, who was rolling her eyes at me.

"Ask Will to let you buy jewellery," my sister said. "You're going to need all the help you can get."

* * *

><p>I wasn't desperate enough to give Will another reason to hate Kara, thank you very much, so in the end I figured something out.<p>

We had to push back my brilliant plans because on the Thursday itself Art had a gig-type thing that we all had to go to—I tried to pass because I hadn't gotten laid in well over a month, but the kid looked so pathetic when I told him I couldn't go that I talked Kara into the massive double date from hell. Not that it was so bad.

Whatever was wrong with Brian and Dinah, they were still polite to one another. Judy was leading a cheering section for Art, which kept Bert distracted from my older sister. Will skipped the thing altogether since Valentine's Day was making him particularly miserable (though he did let the kid buy a guitar that wasn't used, afterwards). Francy and Kara spent way too much time together for my liking, but even if it was annoying, at least it was kind of hot.

My parents were going out the Friday night, too, but Judy argued that I couldn't bring Kara to our place because that would be boring, so I took her to the Cullen house instead.

"We always go to the Cullen house," Kara said as we drove there.

"Are you doubting my romance planning skills?"

"No." She was cute when she grinned. "You have romance planning skills now?"

"I have so many skills I'm unreal."

"You're something, all right."

"Was that sarcasm? On Valentine's Day? I'm hurt."

"Sorry."

"You're going to have to make it up to me." Fortunately, I had a couple of ideas on how she could do that; I was a pretty creative guy, when I had to be.

"Okay." It was kind of sickening how cute she was when she giggled like that; then again, it might have made me smile.

I'd gotten Brian and Baxter to cook for me, since cooking wasn't my strong suit (it wasn't exactly theirs, either, but they could do it better than I could) and Art had set up in the corner. I thought the whole serenading thing would go better, actually, but once Art had finished the three of us ended up looking at each other awkwardly. "I'll just show myself out," he murmured as he left.

"He's really good," Kara said.

"So should I give him the flowers?"

"Well…I suppose you can give them to me." The bouquet was bigger than her head; I wanted to laugh as she sniffed the pink roses. "You didn't have to."

"Yeah, well, it's kind of hard to deliver, 'I promise to try to spend more time with you despite the crazy mess that is my pack,' so I figured I'd stick with the classics."

"I know you've been busy. I—I just wish Fran hadn't been the one who told me why you were always off with Brian."

Maybe I could get my imprint to be my personal secretary. It would be less awkward if the job was official.

"I didn't want to embarrass the guy. He's almost moping as much as Will. But I have forbidden my pack from being stupid, so we should be good."

"You did what?"

"I told them there was to be no more drama. So there will be no more drama _ever _and we will enjoy a nice, quiet evening to ourselves."

There was a second, as she thought it over, where I wondered how much of a pain it would be trying to get Will to agree to a cheap pair of earrings. Fortunately, it didn't come to that. Kara was grinning at me—I was sure we were good again.

"Since when are you quiet?" she wondered.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: _Levi's_ been spending time with Brian, so Kara didn't see too much of Levi. Not that _she's_ been spending time with Brian. Sorry if that was confusing.

* * *

><p>After almost killing Will (and yes, we had a <em>Kill Bill <em>night and then went around quoting it for a month) and then accepting we were going to use it to make fun of him forever, Brian began to deal with the whole Dinah situation. Sam and Baxter were unimpressed with his progress, but I was pleased and Brian didn't flip out again so his family could suck it. He was okay.

From Seattle, all I heard was "fine." "I'm fine, Levi," "Dinah's fine, Levi," "I'm fine, so stop bugging me, Levi," "She's always fine, Levi," "_You_ won't be fine if you don't mind your own business, Levi."

So the solution was obviously to go to Seattle and see if I could take Brian's 'okay' and Dinah's 'fine' and end up with 'good.' (I usually left the math up to Will, but it seemed simple enough this time).

Road trip.

_Seriously?_ Baxter asked. _Are we really doing this?_

_This is awesome! _Judy declared._ This is going to be so much fun for all of us._

_Some of us,_ he said, ignoring her, _Have school. And would like to pass this year._

_You're doing great, Bax¸_ Brian said. His brother didn't appreciate the encouragement, so Brian just said, _We haven't done enough stuff as a pack. And we'll get to see Francy. Aren't you excited?_

Brian hadn't been very eager when I told him my plan, either, but it was nice that he was trying. The rest of my pack was less enthusiastic.

_Yeah, I can't wait to watch Levi harass our sister while he tries to force you to make awkward conversation with your ex-girlfriend._

_Hey! _I decided, _There will be no more bitching. There will be a pack run and maybe a pack hunt and then we will get to Seattle and have a pack party. Understand?_

_I think it'll be great,_ Judy said.

_Thank you, Jubes. Why can't the rest of you be that excited?_

There was no answer, but Baxter's resentment at being pulled out of school (freak) and made to join our impromptu vacation faded away as he ran. Judy was super excited about seeing Dinah and her excitement was catching. When she and Bert darted off course to scare birds into the air all six of us were laughing.

It would be good.

* * *

><p>When we arrived in Seattle (after a couple of detours) all six of us were in a great mood. We maybe ate a bit more of the wildlife than we should have, but we couldn't help getting hungry as we moved.<p>

"You're gross," Dinah declared after she opened the door and saw me standing there. "Eww! Get your sweaty chest away from me!"

I stopped hugging her, even if I was still laughing. "At least I put on pants first. Be grateful."

"Okay, mental pictures I didn't need. Where's everyone else?"

"They're waiting at the park. We packed as light as we could. So I need clothes for Judy."

"Sure."

As I followed Dinah inside, I also said, "Thanks for doing this. We needed an excuse to cement the fact we're going to be awesome now."

"You've decided?"

"Pretty much. You going to be okay having Brian here?"

My sister laughed at me, handing over a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. "Now he asks."

"I figure you would have said something when I was inviting myself over, but I wanted to double check. Just in case you had human feelings or something."

"Nope. No human feelings that I know of." The smile faded off her face. "I'm fine, Levi."

"Good. I'll be right back with the rest of them, then."

* * *

><p>We ordered so much Chinese food the guy on the other end of the line thought I was playing a practical joke; in the end though, my buddy came through and the eight of us feasted. Since my sister's crappy place couldn't really fit all of us around the kitchen table, we moved the couch back and set the food on the floor and had a free for all.<p>

Werewolves liked nothing better than eating. Hell, at some point, Baxter said to me, "So this wasn't the worst idea you've ever had."

"Your crush on me is getting embarrassing," I said back. We were good, finally.

"You think everyone is in love with you," Brian said.

"If they're not, they should be. It shows good taste."

Judy threw a chicken ball at me, but my pack gave me a round of applause for catching it with my mouth. Then Bert and Baxter double teamed me.

"No food fights," Dinah said before I could retaliate. "Even if you're just trying to keep Levi's head from getting too big."

"So what are we doing after?" Judy asked after Bert won the last of the orange chicken from her.

"At some point, you need to take showers," Dinah said. "And how much chow mein did you all eat?"

The empty cartons Judy was turning into a mini-fort didn't quite give an answer, but we figured it was a lot. We should have called another place, too. We could have eaten more. But I figured I'd give Will a heart attack if I spent another four hundred bucks on crap food, so we made do with what we had.

"I was thinking," I said, "Since we don't really have much of a night life in La Push—"

"Or any," Will said.

"We should take advantage of not being there. Let's go out."

"You're plotting," Brian observed.

I shrugged. Not that I was going to hook Brian up with anyone, anything, as long as it wasn't my sister, but the best way of getting over someone, I'd heard, was to get over someone else. Maybe Dinah would let me help her, too, though that was a long shot.

"We should take advantage of being young and beautiful. Francy and I are the only ones here who aren't single; the rest of you have to live a little."

"Don't call us beautiful," Will muttered. I had expected him to be a lot worse about being excluded from my list of non-single people, so I would take it.

"I thought you broke up with Carl," Judy wondered.

"I did," Francy said (her brothers might have done their best to hide their looks of triumph, but it didn't quite work). "But I'm still young and beautiful, right?"

Judy agreed while I asked, "Since when did you break up with Carl?"

"Since she thought I couldn't be single without her," Dinah explained.

"Yes, Di. It was all about you. Though less about you being single and more about you whining about nothing."

"I do not whine. I occasionally complain in a firm yet dignified manner."

"Levi whined," Will offered. Okay, so he was more than a little pissed that I considered him single.

"That is only sort of true and we're losing focus." Because I did not want to talk about how my imprint was single. If Brian and Dinah weren't such a mess, I might have scrapped the whole night. "Whatever the relationship status of everyone, we're going out."

"Cool," Judy said. "Do you guys have anything else I can wear?"

Fuck.

"I think," Will said after I looked at him with puppy eyes, "It would be better if I had a babysitter stay with me."

If it was the only way to keep Judy away from skeezy guys, then I would sacrifice my cousin.

"But—oh." My little sister glared at me. "You just don't want me to come."

"That's not what anyone said." But it was a waste of my breath.

"Fine," she snapped as she got up. "Go out without me. I don't care. I'll just go play with my toys in the corner."

Then she took off for the outside (the shaking might have had something to do with that).

Bert and Baxter glanced at one another and after Bert looked at Dinah, Baxter rose to his feet. "I'll take her for a run. Better than watching you grope poor defenceless girls."

"Thanks, kid."

But though I flipped him off, I think he got I meant it. Having Judy upset was not how I wanted the night to go.

"She's not a child, Levi," Dinah snapped at me. "What were you doing at fifteen?"

"More like who were you doing," Will corrected. Make that _really_ pissed.

"That's different."

"Because you have a penis?" Dinah said.

"Please don't ever talk about my penis."

"There's no way Judy is less mature than you."

"You really want her around guys who think she's legal?"

"No," Dinah admitted. "But this idea that you have, Levi, that she's not every bit the teenager you were, is ridiculous."

"We talk about sex all the time." The five of us stared at Bert who turned a beautiful shade of red. "Not like—not with each other. I'm mean, we talk with each other. Talk about sex with each other. No. Wait. We talk about having sex—okay, please stop looking at me like that."

"Why is she talking about sex?" I demanded.

"Leave him alone," Will demanded. He couldn't fight me at all, but I was pretty sure he'd try if I bullied Bert so I left the kid alone.

"We're losing sight of the point," Dinah said.

"There was a point?" I wondered.

"Stop being a dick is generally my point. But especially to Judy."

I would allow that I could occasionally cross into dick-ish-ness without noticing; but I was more than a little offended that anyone would think I would act that way towards my little sister.

"Fine. I'll go after her and apologize."

"No," Brian said. "You—that is—"

"If you apologize now," Francy said, "You'll have to invite her along. Is that really what you want to do?"

I glanced at Dinah, who just shook her head. "She'll get over it by tomorrow. Just let it blow over."

"Okay. Shall we get ready, then?"

"The puppy isn't coming with us, either," Dinah said. "He's underage."

"We're all underage."

"I look twenty-five," Bert said.

"No one'll ID him," Will said. "Plus, I need someone to make sure my drinks stay virgin."

"So it's settled then," I said. Dinah wasn't about to argue that Will shouldn't have supervision. "We're going to have fun."

* * *

><p>And we did, so there.<p>

Francy had a friend who was having a house party, so we went there. Dinah got bored almost instantly (which might have had something to do with how I made sure Brian talked to every girl there, but she never would have admitted it so…), but she made Bert walk her home so he was happy. Brian and Francy were weird for a little bit, but eventually fell into the old habit of liking each other again. Will was annoyed because he had to make nice for reasons that weren't making money, but he lasted a lot longer than I thought he would.

Around one, Brian joined me, Tanya of the Titanic Tits and her friends in our game of strip poker. "Will took off."

"Tell me—"

"Francy went with him." Good. I thought he could handle a little house party, but I wasn't delusional. It was better he wasn't wandering the streets by himself.

"There's a joke in there about you being a bigger pussy than your sister, but I'm too drunk to find it."

"We can't get drunk," he murmured under his breath. So I wasn't drunk, but whatever I had taken had gotten me closer than I'd been in a while and I was going to enjoy it.

"Buy in," I ordered him instead.

Tanya helped me out. Leaning over the table, she decided, "Shoes and shirt, please."

I wasn't sure if it was the Alpha blood or the display, but Brian listened. We settled in for another round as I said, "I'm glad you didn't use him as an excuse to punk out."

"I tried," Brian admitted. "But Francy made it clear that while she would reluctantly trust me with our brothers, she wasn't going to let me be the only thing standing between Will, Di and her home."

"They usually have to stop screaming to breathe. Eventually."

"Di doesn't." My sister didn't scream often; when she did, it worked. "Also, although neither one would admit it to me, I think they have some evil plan involving Bert and my ex."

"Dinah's never going to go for a guy someone tells her to go for." Even if that someone was Fate.

"You think I don't know that about her?"

Maybe it was the pathetic tone that attracted Tanya. Maybe it was the six pack. Whatever the reason, she decided she wanted to play the next hand from Brian's lap. And, not to brag, but that helped cheer him up better than anything else I had been able to do for a month so I was a fucking genius.

And when we got home the next morning, it seemed everyone else was in a good mood too. Even Dinah was in a good mood.

"Of course I'm in a good mood," she said. "It's not every day I get to watch crappy romance movies with my little sister."

"_Terminator _is not crappy," Judy protested. The great thing about Judy was that she got over everything that fast. She turned to me and demanded, "Is it crappy?"

"First or second?"

"Either! Oh, fail."

But she was giggling at me as she said that. It occurred to me I really ought to thanks to Baxter for talking her down.

"Obviously Brian and I were having too much fun to sleep last night," I said. "But how did the rest of you losers make out?"

"Great," Judy said. "It was great. It was—yeah. I slept great."

I think Bert kicked her.

"Dinah didn't kick?" Brian asked.

"I do not kick." My sister reconsidered. "I don't kick people who aren't annoying. Though Bert snores."

"Baxter made me sleep on the floor," Will complained. "Snoring isn't as bad as your crappy floor."

"You don't sleep," Baxter said. "You pace."

"If you wore away the carpet, I want a new one," Dinah said.

The snipping was all in fun, Judy was beaming, Baxter wasn't annoyed with me and Bert looked so happy I thought he'd float away (I later found out Dinah had agreed to let him sleep on her floor—she'd even given him a blanket and a pillow, the bleeding heart). Will had survived a house party just fine, Brian had forgotten about Dinah for a while and Francy looked super hot with her legs on her brother's lap.

Somehow, we had gotten to good.

Just like I called it.

* * *

><p>The first thing my father said to me when I got home was, "Not a word." It really limited my options. Fortunately, Judy asked what had happened in a sincerely concerned sort of way, so he had to answer her.<p>

"I may have tried picking up Quil's girls."

"He may have definitely sprained his back," my mother said, all sympathy as usual.

"But he's going to be okay, right?"

I couldn't hold it in anymore. I burst out laughing.

"Levi," Mom warned me. I really was trying to stop. "He'll be fine in two weeks."

"And I don't have to be pain free to ground you," my father muttered from the couch.

"Do you need anything?" Judy offered. "I can get you food or the remote or—"

"He's not dying, Judy," Mom said. Though I'm pretty sure if my father had been given the option, he would have at least considered death before he agreed to the humiliation of getting stuck on the couch with an injury.

"Yeah, but you might have been too busy telling everyone to help him," my sister said.

"Hey, kiddo," Dad said sternly. "I'm fine."

"Except for the fact he's old. And broken," I may have said.

"Those better not be words I'm hearing from you, Levi."

"No, sir," I said. "No words."

"Give him some space and he'll be fine. Fortunately, he'll have plenty of people to take care of him." Judy and I glanced at each other; we'd heard that tone of voice from our mother before. It was never good for us. "Both of you are grounded. And if I ever catch the two of you leaving town without telling me ever again, you'll be lucky I don't chain you up in the back."

"Hey, I said Judy had to come."

"Did you order her to?"

"Kind of."

It wasn't enough (if Judy hadn't been pissy about Dad being hurt, than maybe it would have been). In the end, I had to beg my mother to let me call Sam and Embry despite the fact she had forbidden me to use a phone—Sam was pissed at me, but he didn't take it out on his boys because I _had_ ordered Baxter to come with us, while Embry tried to sound like he was pissed because my mother was around, but he was mostly just amused that his son had spent the past two days with Dinah. My aunt and uncle had long ago given up trying to control where Will went, so at least my pack was okay.

* * *

><p>March was a pretty quiet month for us since I had to spend most of it indoors. For the first time in my life, I think I was the good kid; Judy made up patrols to get out of the house as often as she could. I covered for her because having a werewolf go stir-crazy was a bad idea; I think Mom got that too, because even when Judy got caught, my mom didn't really do anything to her. I guess being the good kid for years meant you got some perks.<p>

I mocked my father mercilessly, he decided that I needed a curfew that he only bothered to enforce when I was with Kara—my traitorous pack brothers would tell him where we were ("he used to be the Alpha, Levi," Brian explained after he had given me a heads up) and he'd just sit with us until I agreed to come home. Point, old man.

Baxter got accepted to the University of Washington. I wasn't sure if he refused _just_ to spite Sam, but it was part of it. Once he proved to his father and brother (and maybe himself) he could have gotten in, he decided he wasn't going to go. That was that was that—Brian asked me to talk to the kid, Francy told me to back off, so I just checked that he was sure. It was a waste of breath; he was always sure. Whether he was always right was a different question, but it was also his decision, so I left him to it.

Baxter's decision had the unintended consequence of making Will more bearable. All of sudden expenses for the next four years were considerably less than anticipated (Baxter would go somewhere he could run to, so he'd live at home) and my cousin was more than a little pleased. He stopped being quite so cheap about everything since we had managed to pay off most of the hospital bills. Active moping was all I wanted. It was good.

Brian was slowly getting over Dinah (I tried to tell them both that everything would go smoother if they didn't talk to each other all the fucking time, but no one listened to me). Dinah was fine.

Francy was…doing whatever it was she did.

At least Kara made sense. And she was as good a listener as ever as we sat around her living room, waiting for Kim to leave.

"Did I tell you that Bert went suicidal?"

"What?" she gasped.

"Well, it was probably Judy's idea first, but both kids decided that it was a good one. Thankfully, Baxter mentioned it to me before—" I'd been going to say 'before bloodshed could ensue,' but I was trying to make us sound harmless lately, so I just let the sentence stand.

"What was the idea?"

"Bert wants to set Will up on a date."

While I laughed, she just looked confused.

"You keep trying to set Brian up," she said.

"That's different. Brian needs to get laid. Will needs to stop moping, sure, but he won't—he'd be very unhappy if that's how we tried to do it."

"Just let him move on when he's ready?"

I laughed again. "Well, no. I'll let Bert pull his crazy scheme when Will starts perking up. When Will picks them, he picks the crazy ones."

"Did Carrie Ann really light her dad's car on fire?"

Neither of them could remember who'd done it, but since she had probably overdosed since she had taken off, I figured it couldn't hurt anyone if I agreed with Kara. "Yup. And Tess cheated on him with everyone and he just let her. I don't think he would have dumped her sorry ass if I hadn't said anything, either."

"So it would be better if Bert and Judy picked her."

"Exactly. Besides, their ideas weren't half bad. I might steal some of them for Brian."

"Okay," Kara said in that way that meant she disagreed with me somehow.

"Maybe I've been focusing on the wrong brother," I realized. "Baxter's been super stressed all month. We should be trying to help him relax, too. He's not so bad—and he'd been a lot less annoying if he had a girlfriend." Or at least someone to help him let off some steam.

Kara opened her little mouth and then closed it again then opened it back up, frowning all the while. "I...I don't think that's a good idea, Levi."

"Why isn't it a good idea? It's a great idea. I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner." Well, I hadn't thought of it sooner because the kid annoyed me, but I figured I had to be the bigger person at some point.

"It's just..." She fidgeted, pulling the sleeves of her sweater over her hands. There was even some blushing going on. "It's just probably not a good idea."

"Why not?"

"It just would be bad," she said nervously. What kind of wolf would I be if I couldn't sense when I should pounce?

"Why?"

"I just..."

"What?" Maybe my voice rose, just a little.

"I don't think Judy would like it," she whispered.

"Why wouldn't she like it?"

"I just—I don't know."

"Kara," I pleaded. But pleading didn't work. "Kara!"

"I mean, I just, I don't—I don't think she'd like it."

"You said that already. Why wouldn't she like it?"

"Just, um, like when they come, um...she just doesn't like it."

"Kara. You have twenty seconds to tell me what the fuck you mean. Sentences. _Now_."

"They just come into the diner together a lot and when anyone pays too much attention to him she just doesn't like it. She growled at one of the tourists once. It was kind of scary."

"Together? _Together?_"

"Um…"

"He's taking advantage of my little sister?"

Kara opened and closed her mouth for so long, I started to think she had stopped being able to speak. But eventually, she managed: "It looks more like she's taking advantage of him."

I was going to kill him.

I was going to kill _them_.

I was going to beat him to death and then yell at Judy until I lost my voice and then I'd lock her away for the rest of her fucking life.

* * *

><p>Everyone was around on Sundays. It was a crappy day, too, so everyone was inside Sam's. Judy was singing along with Art's strumming, while Bert and Brian sat at the table doing school work and the twins ran around like the crazy people they were while Sam and Baxter tried to clean.<p>

I marched through the chaos to Baxter and barked, "Outside. Now."

He followed me out; I ignored Brian's curious look. No one else blinked. I was pissed but the wall had been fixed not too long ago. I made sure he was between me and the forest (I kind of liked having the rest behind me, so I didn't have to see them looking).

"What now?" he wondered.

I was bigger than he was, taller and wider, not to mention faster and stronger. Whatever it was, I was better. It wouldn't take much for me to utterly annihilate him. But I was still going to enjoy it.

"You and my kid sister?"

The faintest frown appeared on his forehead; I don't know if he realized what he was doing, but as he watched me he was shifting into fighting stance, preparing for battle. So I knew.

He said, "yes," but my fist was already moving. The sound of my knuckles connecting with his jaw was satisfying, but it didn't stop the urge I had to kill him. As he stumbled back, I phased and pounced.


	15. Chapter 15

Baxter phased just as I reached him, which saved his life, but didn't give him much of a chance to defend himself. First blood was mine; I sank my teeth into his back and tried to use my weight. With most of the others it would have worked, but the kid was a little too big._What the hell?_ Will demanded as we interrupted his patrol. The distraction coupled with Baxter's continued squirming bucked me off him.

If he wanted to postpone the inevitable, it was fine by me. I hadn't gotten to fight like this since the old-timers had stopped. Not having to worry about the damage snapping, clawing and biting would do was wonderful. We both reared up; I started to think maybe this wasn't the best idea when he managed to hold me off, even if he took most of the damage.

Not that it mattered. I hadn't picked the right spot to kill him.

A grey wolf knocked into me, Brian saying, _Levi, stop it. _I didn't have time for him, so I sent Brian flying, scratched across the muzzle, which pissed Baxter off enough that the idiot attacked me. There was another wolf crashing into us and Brian was back, coming after me while Bert tried to get Baxter to back off. In our heads, Will bellowed_, Is someone going to explain?_

A tiny white wolf appeared in front of me, so damn small for a werewolf. Her eyes were still dark brown, my sister's eyes, silently begging me. There was even a small bow, ceding authority to me but trying to ask for mercy. A quiet whimper made us all freeze.

_Okay,_ Brian said, breathless. _Okay. We're all okay._

_Baxter's still bleeding_, Bert said.

_I'm fine,_ the traitor snapped. Not that it stopped Judy's eyes from growing bigger; she didn't turn from me, though, just let me see the fear and other stuff I didn't want to put a name to.

_Okay_, Brian said again. _Why don't we try talking first?_

_Nothing to talk about_, I snapped.

_I'm with Brian on this one_, Will said. He was running full out and counting on the shock of his words to buy him the time he needed to reach us; not that it didn't work. _Will someone please explain this to me?_

_Baxter forgot to mention he was taking advantage of my sister._

_So, we're killing him?_

_No,_ Brian said firmly. _No killing. No maiming. Talking._

_Now he's a pacifist_, Will complained.

_You aren't nearly angry enough that he's been touching her,_ I whined.

Will just sounded amused. _Baxter? Have you slept with her?_

Judy barked; Baxter growled; Brian wondered, _Is that really necessary?_

_THAT_, Baxter thundered, _Is absolutely NONE of your goddamn business._

Will finally emerged from the trees, tongue hanging out from exhaustion, making it seem like he was laughing. _Levi, if she's got to be dating, we could do worse than someone who occasionally sounds like Dinah._

I growled just because.

_Levi,_ Brian said again. I couldn't help noticing the way he and Will and Bert were now between me and my prey. _Why don't we all sit around the picnic table and talk this out?_

They really weren't going to let me tear the kid to pieces.

_Phase and wait for me in the front_, I said, _I want to talk to my sister._

Brian nodded and began to slowly herd everyone else to the house. When his brother didn't move, Brian pleaded and when that didn't work Will nipped at the kid's feet. Judy gave a quick nod and the bastard finally got out of my sight. A few more steps and the voices in my head faded and there was only me and Judy left.

_Levi?_

_Give me a second,_ I demanded, pacing across the yard. I needed the movement to help me think.

_You're dating him?_

_Yes._

_But with no crush-liking going on?_

I made her jump with my fury, but she replied, _I didn't lie. It's...not a crush._

_And you didn't think to fucking mention it?_

_I'm sooo sorry. So sorry. But every time we tried you'd say something about hating him or hurting him or you would say I was a baby and I'd get somadat you I was glad you didn't know. But I'm sorry. Please, Levi, please don't hurt him._

_How long has this been going on for?_

_Um, October?_

_OCTOBER?_

_Well, maybe November. Ask Baxter. He's better with dates and stuff._

_There's confusion about when you started going out?_

_You don't just wake up one day inthe middle of a relationship._

_Are you getting snippy?_

_No,_ she said quickly. _I just…_

_Reason #1958 why being a werewolf is so totally awesome has to do with the frost this morning that doesn't stop Baxter from accepting my challenge to totally lose to me at basketball. We might be able to play into December at this rate. Also, it means he doesn't bother with a shirt which is reason #4 that being a werewolf is so totally awesome!_

_I totally don't blush though, even if his chest is all muscley goodness that makes my tummy all jumbly, just take off my shirt, too, because it's way too hot even with winter coming and the more material there is to grab the more Baxter cheats. He denies it, of course, but he's a total cheat. Also, he started it._

_Though he lets me go first._

_It has nothing to do with the fact I'm younger either and everything to do with how he likes looking at me all the time and touching me so that I feel all squirmy and giggly and just…yeah. He thinks I'm insanely hot!_

_Maybe that's why he doesn't mind that I'm totally going to beat him._

"_You going to stand there all day?" he asks. "Or you gonna come here and give me the ball?"_

"_Can't touch this." And because Bert keeps listening to Marley's collection of oldies but goodies, I can't help that I start to sing. "Doo doo doo doo doo, huh huh. You can't touch this."_

_Baxter snorts and finally gets tired of waiting, which wasn't very nice because I was a little distracted by the song of awesomeness and I barely mange to get the ball out of his reach. It's kind of annoying that he's a little bit (a lot) bigger than me even though I'm a werewolf too, so maybe I elbow him a little as I dribble around him._

_Being able to slam dunk a basketball is reason #248 that being a werewolf is totally awesome._

"_Boo yeah," I call out, but Baxter just laughs._

"_Cheat."_

"_Nah uh."_

"_I have an impression of your elbow on my stomach. See?"_

_That's very unfair because he's pointing to a very yummy looking six-pack and it's rather rude to try to distract me like that. So I stick out my tongue and he laughs; I thought he was distracted, but I was wrong, because the second I start to dribble, he snatches the ball away._

_He doesn't even bother moving, just makes a shot from the end of the driveway that's kind of beautiful. Nothing but net._

"_Show off," I mutter as I get the ball. Even before we were werewolves playing with Baxter was kind of intimidating because—even though he's nowhere near as good as he thinks he is—he was sort of really, really good (also, I was normal sized back then and he's always been tall). Now that he's even taller and has supernatural hand-eye co-ordination, he's too good. Though the way he's smirking at me is making my tummy all funny again._

_After the first time though, he doesn't shoot from the end of the driveway. He tries to go through me instead. He manages more often than not, but I do manage to stop him sometimes. I'm scrappy, Levi says, even if I'm not as big as everyone else._

_He gets closer than he would during game with, say, Levi, but I don't mind because it's nice having him at my back, arms trying to reach around me, his skin burning against mine when he makes contact. But my brothers taught me how to play basketball, not how to flirt while playing basketball, so no matter how close Baxter gets, all I know how to do is hit him and peel off, even though I like the way he feels._

_So the only way I could beat him—distract him the way seeing me in baggy shorts and a sports bra doesn't, because he say he thinks I'm insanely hot, but I'm actually kind of not—I don't actually know how to do. I'm only losing by three, so I guess it doesn't matter._

"_Keep pouting and I'll sink the next shot with my eyes closed," he says, as he walks past. I push him a little, which makes him laugh. "I warned you."_

_The jerkface almost does get it in with his eyes closed, but it hits the back board and since he put way too much power into it, it rebounds straight onto the road._

_As I l_augh, he says, "_All part of my plan" and runs after the ball. Stupid ball. It goes downhill, all the way to where Ruth and Ester Cook are walking out of their house and Ruth picks up the ball to hand it over._

_And it would be totally rude to ignore them and I'd hit him and make fun of him if he did ignore them, but that doesn't mean I want him to stop our game so he can talk to them and ignore_me_._

_It's the only slightly un-awesome thing about being a werewolf, knowing that he really liked Ruth and he might have broken up with her but that didn't mean he wasn't really upset about it (he just didn't want to keep lying to her about his dad). It's real easy to see why he liked (likes?) her, too, because Ruth is really, really pretty. Her face is kind of round and all you notice are the very pouty bright red lips she's biting as she tries not to stare at Baxter's sweaty bare chest. And her eyes are framed by dark lashes under really thin, really pointed eyebrows that always make it look like she's asking a very important question that only you can answer (Levi loves that kind of thing and Baxter doesn't look likes he minds, either)._

_Mom doesn't really wear makeup and Dinah just shrugs her shoulders whenever I ask, tells me to wear whatever I feel comfortable with, whatever I like (but how am I supposed to know what I like if I've never tried any?). So I kind of wish...I don't know. It's not like I'm jealous; I'm more jealous of Ester's ponytail. For almost ten years I'd worn my hair exactly the same way, pulled back, and it drives me nuts that I don't have one now. I miss it._

_I still wish I could figure out how to make it look like I'm interesting, I guess. It's not like I want to be made up so much that it looks like a costume or so I can use it as some kind of mask, but I think I'd like it the way Francy uses it, a sort of tool to help her along, sometimes, a way of giving people what they want while still keeping all the important parts back for yourself. It really sucked when Dan said he didn't want me._

_It must have sucked for Ruth when Baxter said he didn't want her. Not that we talk about it; he won't talk about her. I asked Bert to ask, but he said he couldn't. Bert would only say he thought it wasn't really about Ruth; he said Baxter thinks it'll be disrespectful to me to talk about her too much. Bert says that's a good thing, but…oh, I don't know._

_Standing around pouting that Baxter's forgotten I've existed is kind of lame, so I skip over. It puts a smile on my face (it's not their fault I'm all pouty for no reason all of sudden, so I skip to make me happy) so I can say that I'm glad to see them and mean it._

_Ruth and Baxter are just talking about classes and I should be glad he can talk to someone because it really bugs him when he thinks he might not graduate in June like he's been planning too, but I just can't stop wishing Ruth would stop flirting with Baxter even as Ester asks me how I'm doing (she's really nice, even if she's super older)._

_I get why she is, of course, because, yeah, he's always been kind of nice to look at and with the werewolf-ness he's all sculpted and climbable. And he has an adorable butt—bad, bad Judy. But he said I could stare if I wanted, he said he was mine if I wanted, so maybe it's okay?_

_Ruth's hand on his arm is not okay and I try not to growl because it's not like she knows Baxter is_my _boyfriend. It's not like Baxter knows he's my boyfriend even though he shrugs her off immediately._

_It's just…I mean, he kissed me and it was like the best thing ever, better than anything Dan did. I'd liked kissing before, I really had, it was a whole lot of fun, but when Baxter kissed me it was so, so amazing it was like he had invented a whole knew category of kissing just for me. When he kissed me it was like when I first phased, where everything got super warmer all of a sudden but it was so, so perfect. My tummy got all jumpy but I still really liked it when his hands started touching parts of me that I thought would be ticklish, and that were when it was my brothers poking me on my back or arms or neck or belly, but weren't when Baxter touched them very slowly and gently. It didn't make me laugh then. It made me mushy, instead._

_Even after the very first time, I knew I didn't want Baxter doing that withanyoneelse. It felt so nice I wanted it all to myself. But that's what I had wanted with Dan and he ran away so fast..._

_Plus, I had never thought of Baxter like that before. Ever. So maybe there was someone else out there that I was missing. Maybe—still doesn't stop me from wanting to growl at Ruth._

Finally_, the Cook sisters leave._

"_Watch this," Baxter says, spinning the ball on his finger. It just keeps going around and around and around and around and…I'm getting dizzy._

"_That's awesome. You have to teach me."_

"_After you kick my ass?"_

"_I'm going to." It comes out a bit pouty, because I can't and normally that doesn't matter because playing is like the fun part, but today..._

_He drops the ball, but I get my foot on it before it falls even further down the street._

"_You wanna make a bet?" he asks as he steps closer. It means I have to look up to look him in the eye and I think he likes that._I _like it, because it means he has to look down and when he does, Baxter's very nice about making sure his nose is rubbing against mine._

"_Maybe." It comes out a little whispery, but he can still hear. Reason #59 that being a werewolf is so awesome! I'm not sure what number the loopy feeling in my stomach is, just that it is also very, very awesome._

"_If I win, you let me take you to dinner on Friday. On a date."_

_"I totally knew that." Since he is going to win, I can't stop smiling. "Fine. But if I win, you have to go with Brian."_

_He cringes. It is soooo dumb, the way he's angry with Brian over Sam and it's even dumber he's angry with Sam. They're so alike sometimes, so sure they know what's right and what's wrong and who should never be forgiven. Poor Brian, eager to forgive everyone, stuck between them. Poor Francy, trying to figure it out herself while they all keep telling her she's wrong. They're all kind of a mess, so I understand why Baxter sometimes gets confused. They make my head hurt._

_We should shake hands, but kissing is easier, really, and if his cheeks are scratchy this late in the afternoon, he's careful to make sure it doesn't do more than itch a little._

"_Deal," he agrees and it's on._

_I put up a good fight. Dad would be proud. It's a pretty close game and it was fun, so who cares about the rest? I really should make fun of the way Levi is totally scared to play basketball now because who cares that Baxter would probably be able to beat him?_

"_So what are we eating Friday?" I ask._

_"Burgers?"_

"_Bacon burgers?"_

"_Werewolf burgers," he promises, which is to say, burgers with absolutely everything we can convince the server to put on them. Excellent!_

_Baxter lets me slip under his arm when we go into the house, so I get to the water first. It makes more sense to drink out of the tap, but he hands me glasses, so I guess I can do that. Whatever. He brushes the water off my chin and I don't mind the way he takes a step forward so I'm stuck between the counter and him (and all tingly, but he doesn't know that, I guess)._

_"Teach me the spinning trick now?" I ask when he pulls away, after he's finished sucking all the water off my lips._

"_It's going to cost you."_

"_What?" Maybe I giggle. I feel kind of silly, so I laugh. It's just a thing._

"_Help me practice fighting?"_

"_What?"_

"_You move almost as well as Levi does. The only reason Bert can beat you is because you're smaller. But if you could train me up a bit..."_

"_You could ask Levi."_

"_Yes, but then I'd have to spend time with him." I start to frown, but he adds, "I'd much rather spend time with you."_

_The way his thumb runs along my hip bone is making standing still really hard, the same way I'm getting a little dizzy looking up at his eyes that seem to be asking me something. Now if only I could figure out what that is._

"_Okay," I whisper instead. It works. He smiles—Baxter has a very nice smile, happy but sort of stern at the same time—and I maybe kiss him again._

_I squeal a little when he picks me up and puts me on the counter (he's getting faster—Levi doesn't let me do as many patrols as the rest, so even the advantages I have naturally are disappearing), but I get to wrap my arms and legs around his sweaty self and it's so nice. Only for the first time I notice how tired he looks._

_"Didn't you sleep last night?"_

_I run my fingers over his cheek—I like the way his cheek feels, all rough and scratchy when I run my fingers the wrong way. It makes him roll his eyes, but he lets me keep doing it._

_"It's fine. Just a late patrol."_

_He had work before school this morning. "You need to sleep more."_

_"Will survives on less than four hours a night."_

_"You're not him. Go to bed early tonight."_

_"Bert's coming over at ten to do his history project."_

_"Do it earlier."_

_"Can't. Francy's super busy this week, but she's got an hour at nine that I can have." I frown, so he explains, "Bio isn't really Will's strength; I still have a couple of questions I need her for."_

_"You could ask Brian."_

_"But then who would be around to congratulate my dad on being able to walk in a straight line?"_

_"Baxter." I hate it when he sounds so upset; it makes me feel like Levi's sitting on me. Only worse._

_"Sorry. It's been a long week."_

_"If you didn't have time to play, you should have just said." I try to slip off the counter so I can leave, but he's in the way and after a few moments I'm giggling too hard to push past him. "I don't want to waste your time."_

_"Please. You're the best part of my day."_

_"Yeah?"_

_"By a lot. You're—"_

_Better than the kissing, better even than being a werewolf, is how he means it a thousand and three percent. I _have _to kiss him._

"_I'd say get a room," Art says with a sigh as he walks by, "But don't you dare do that in my room."_

"_Go away or I will put holes in your drums," Baxter says. I just wrap my arms tighter around him, so he can't escape._

"_You wouldn't."_

"_Watch me."_

"_Don't be mean," I scold. I promise Art:_"_I'll protect your instruments."_

"_Thank you." Art grins, winking at me. "You could do better, you know."_

_There's something about Art I've always liked, possibly because he understands 'The Sun Will Come out Tomorrow' is the best song_ever_. But Baxter's not-so-soft hands are on me and I kind of don't mind at all. And as Baxter tells his brother to go do his homework, I think that there's no one else I'd want kissing me in a kitchen, their brothers walking through the room. It's impossible to imagine touching any chest that doesn't belong to Baxter, or tugging on hair that wasn't his (it's just so perfectly tuggable that there_can't _be anyone else)._

_"Sorry about that," he mutters. Crazy boy. There's nothing to be sorry about, except how small I suddenly feel, all the words inside me making it really hard to say anything._

"_Baxter?"_

"_Yeah?"_

_I want to tell him that I've finally made up my mind, but what if—he says he thinks I'm insanely hot but he still likes talking to Ruth and he says he wants to be my boyfriend but he still doesn't like Levi and he says he hates being a werewolf but he wants me to help him be a better one and he makes me feel big and small and calm and silly all at the same time and I'm not sure what to do about all that. It makes talking very difficult when everything is all swirly inside me._

_So all I do is shake my head, but he just laughs quietly and kisses me again. And it's like the best thing ever, so everything is good just then._

_Just then?_ I demanded.

_It stopped being so confusing after a while_, she said. _All the confusing parts weren't as confusing and it was just...so, so good. He's my pinochle._

_Your what?_

_Shoot. Don't tell him I said that. He hates it. But he is. He's mine. And, Levi—he loves me, Levi._

She whispered the words, but that didn't stop her from sounding gloriously happy about it (so happy that I got how she felt loud and clear). I was afraid I was going to see a werewolf start skipping.

_He says—_

_He does_, she growled, hackles raised. _I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but it's true._

_Go find some clothes,_ I ordered. _Meet us in the front._

I phased back before she could say anything else and headed inside. Brian's room was filled with shorts, so I grabbed a pair and headed out front. They'd gathered—Art and the twins were there too—and were waiting for me. Brian was holding a bloody towel to his brother's back and he was unhappy with me, but the kid stood up straighter when he saw me and didn't flinch, so the damage wasn't too bad.

Now I just had to figure out what I was going to do to him.

Someone had left the basketball by the door and I picked it up on my way out. It had been a while since I played, not since last summer, when Will was gone and it was just me and Brian. When I threw the ball at Baxter, he caught it easily.

"Wanna play?"

"Levi—"

"I'm not talking to you, Brian. Everyone keeps telling me you're better than me," I said to Baxter. "So let's play."

"You've got to be kidding me," he said flatly.

"Play." His fingers ran over the ball, turning it carefully; he couldn't help being competitive. It came with the claws. "Are you scared of me?"

Baxter started dribbling absently, testing the movement in his arms and back, though he kept his eyes on me.

"You win and you'll use it as an excuse not to let me near her," he said steadily, as the ball hit the asphalt. "I win and you'll throw a fit and never let me near her again."

"Something like that," I said with a grin. "Scared?"

"What are the rest of us supposed to do?" Will asked. "Cheer?"

"Pretty much."

"Levi—"

"Not now Jubes," I said without turning around. "I'm talking to your boyfriend. Wait. He is your boyfriend, ri—?"

The kid threw the ball at my face. Supernatural reflexes and all that, but I still barely caught it.

"Your ball," he said as he headed to the end of the driveway.

So we started to play.

* * *

><p>AN: I had planned for Levi to dig through Baxter's memories instead of Judy's, but Baxter's perspective ended up being 40,000 words long so it didn't quite fit into this chapter. I also came to the conclusion the second Levi tried to dig through his brain, Baxter would just attack him, which kind of ruins the point of a flashback.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: I forgot something when I was envisioning how rankings in the pack would work. In _Growing Pains_, when real world stuff meant Will shouldn't be beta, I thought, well, it makes perfect sense that Brian steps in because, in addition to being a better influence on Levi, Sam outranked Paul. I picture the wolves the size their position gives them (Seth becomes bigger than everyone save Jacob, in my writing, because he's second in command by blood) so Brian was bigger, stronger, etc, etc. Which worked great, because I loved the idea that Brian the teddy bear is a bear of a man and Will is the exact opposite of physically imposing (and then he opens his mouth).

A hundred bonus points for realizing what I didn't until I started writing _Chest Pains_. Why did I assume Rachel doesn't count? Sigh. Will is referred to as 'my cousin' in every other line, but I was convinced all the Uleys would just naturally outrank him because Sam outranked Paul. Author FAIL. So, since I hate the idea that magic powers care about things like patrilineality, Rachel's blood counts. Now I just have to figure out what that means.

* * *

><p>It didn't take long for me to realize that playing basketball wasn't the best way to kill some time as I collected my thoughts. Baxter was as good as people kept saying—he might have been better. I was bigger and stronger, but the ball moved where he wanted it to and there was nothing I seemed to be able to do to stop it. I didn't have time to think if I wanted not to embarrass myself.<p>

The fifth shot he got in—to my two—the silence broke. "Boo yeah," Judy burst out. "Nice one."

When I knocked into the kid a bit, though, she got mean. "Bert, we're going to cheer."

"Do we have to?"

"Give me a B!"

"Judy, please."

"Give me a B!"

"B."

"You don't find that annoying?" I asked as we headed to the end of the driveway.

"I didn't say that," Baxter said. "But I also find it strangely endearing."

When it rebounded, he caught the ball and sank it so easily I kind of just wanted to hit him. "And I hear I'm not always the easiest person to be around."

"Baxter, Baxter, you're the man. If you can't do it, Levi won't shut up for days!" Judy cried. Bert muttered, "Or weeks." "Try years," Will said.

"You're too old for her."

"You're too old for Kara, then."

"You don't deserve her."

"As long as she thinks differently, I'm hers."

"I don't like it."

"I've noticed." He scored, but still managed an impressive snarl. "You think I see her the way you see my sister."

"What does that mean?"

"What do you know about her that Brian didn't tell you?"

"Occasionally, Will tells me things."

"That makes it okay then."

"I'm not getting lectured by the guy who didn't have the balls to tell me he was with my sister."

"Her call. I don't expect my girlfriend to let me order her around."

"That's eleven," Brian called out. "It's time to stop, guys."

"Fifteen? Twenty-one?" Baxter asked.

"No," I decided. I couldn't beat him; the longer we played, the longer I'd have to humiliate myself; he'd let me have at least two. "You win. Go inside. Tell your dad we're going for a run. Tell all our parents we're going to be gone for a while and that they shouldn't worry."

"They're not going to like that," Brian said.

"Baxter'll convince them otherwise." Okay, so I smirked at the kid. "Meet us in the clearing with the log. Judy? Run ahead, okay?"

"You're not going to hurt him while I'm gone, are you?"

"If I kill him, I'll do it in front of you," I promised. It cheered her up and she took off, which left me with Bert, Will and Brian.

"Have you known the whole time?"

Bert shuffled from foot to foot. "Sort of. Judy liked me, but he liked her and then thankfully they liked each other and I got to be her best friend instead."

"He's okay with that?"

"With what?"

"Having you be her best friend?"

"Sure." Bert stopped shifting. "As long as she's happy, he goes along with whatever she wants. She got him to tell your parents on their turf and, well, you know how that would suck."

It was a werewolf thing.

"My parents know?" As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized how dumb I'd been. "Sam knows, too."

"He hasn't dared talk to Judy since," Brian offered. "Neither one of them will talk about it with me, but I think Bax might have threatened to kill him."

"When did they tell you?"

"Dad told me," Brian explained (at least someone understood it sucked). "End of January. Dinah was really pissed I told my brother that it might not work out with Judy."

Dinah wasn't the most understanding person in the world, but upsetting Judy was the fastest way to get on her shit list. Most days, it was the fastest way to get on mine—Dinah was going to kill me. In my defense, Baxter was still breathing.

"Yeah," I admitted. "You say that to your brother again and I'll kick your ass."

I didn't have to say anything, just glance in his direction, before Will started talking. "There was no way Dinah makes Judy do anything she's not a hundred percent sure she's comfortable with. After that, it was easy enough to figure out."

"What?"

"I'm pretty sure my parents know. I'm sure my kid brother does. They might not have announced anything, but they weren't exactly trying to hide. Judy skipped everywhere. He must have been treating her right—which would be why I didn't say anything, Levi. It's their business. And I'm super secretly a romantic."

"They pay you off?"

Will laughed. "I figured you had enough to worry about without a dumb distraction."

"I'll meet you all in the clearing in a second."

Will and Bert left; I guess I shouldn't have been surprised Brian didn't leave me alone, waiting for his brother. I was sure the rest of them were staying close, just in case.

"After Dad told me, I was hurt, that they didn't tell me. I get it."

"Can we talk about our feelings after I hit your brother a few more times?"

"I've been doing some reading lately. I think I might have an idea about why they didn't tell you."

"Yeah?"

"Usually in wolf packs, the alpha pair gets the perks, has the pups, makes the calls."

"Like my parents," I interrupted. "I know this, Brian."

"Yeah, well, did you know that if the alpha pair doesn't feel like mating—say, maybe they're brother and sister, or something—they can take lower-ranking wolves for their mates?"

"Don't say mates. It's freaking me out."

"The female having the pups takes control of the pack; she gets to make the calls and her mate supports her."

"Don't say pups either."

"Judy's the only girl. And she's not yours. They don't mean it this way, they've probably never consciously thought this way, but if Baxter's her boyfriend you're going to see him as a threat. Because the two of them would be in control if—"

"Judy's not having pups. Ever." That would just be weird.

"I'm just saying you've been, well, bitchy to him for months and maybe it's because subconsciously you realized that if someone was going to be able to become alpha in your place—"

"He kept whining. And I can still out fight him."

"I'm not saying you can't. In fact, I'm saying that maybe for the first time in your life, your instincts might not be the way to go. Baxter doesn't want your pack. He'd hate being in charge. He just..."

"He wants my sister." I wasn't sure what was worse—losing my pack or losing my sister? Just remembering how much she cried after Dan crushed her heart last year made me feel sick; I couldn't deal with that again. But if I couldn't trust my pack brother to be careful with her, then who could I trust?

"I got the impression that she wanted him back," Brian said tentatively.

"Oh, shut up." I started heading towards the forest and let Brian hustle to catch up. "And you can stop saying 'want,' too."

"Sorry."

"Good. I need you to do me a favour."

Brian refused, for a second. We had to; he got that eventually.

When we got to the clearing, Judy and Bert had settled on the log and Will was pacing, but no one was really talking. It was another ten minutes before Baxter showed up with the news: "They're not thrilled, but they said it was okay."

"Good."

"Some of us have jobs we can't just not go to," Will complained.

"Get new ones." Okay, so I was super pissed at them all. "Now shut up and listen. This does not happen again. This _never_ happens again. This is something I should have known, not something I should have had to find out from my fucking girlfriend."

"Why would Kara tell you?" Judy wondered.

"Is she okay?" Baxter said. I would have hit him, but Judy beat me to it. Good.

"You should have told me. I will _ruin_ the next person who pulls this kind of shit. We are a pack. That means we trust each other. It means you tell me. No damn secrets, no hiding, no nothing—we tell each other everything. Got it?"

"How is our relationship a group project?" Baxter demanded.

The kids were on the log, Baxter was standing beside them. Will was off to the side, on Bert's side (and he still wasn't any good at being taken unaware). "Brian," I said.

Brian phased and jumped towards my sister.

It was beautiful, really. One second there was a lunging grey wolf and the next there were two wolves, one dark, one light, rolling into the earth. Not only had Baxter managed to phase on the fly, he had overpowered Brian mid-air. Poetry wasn't my thing, but if it had been, I would have started rhyming shit off because it was glorious.

The kids did what they were supposed to, phased and rolled out of the way (Judy couldn't handle getting hit by Brian, Bert should avoid the damage when he could). Will really needed to work on his reflexes—though today he might have just realized what I was up to.

Once Brian saw the plan was complete he backed off, which meant I was facing down a snarling black wolf that was rather unhappy with me.

Tough.

"That's why I need to fucking know," I snapped, bearing my own teeth at him. "If you're going to worry about her in the middle of a fight, I need to know about it." I dropped my voice, facing down the giant wolf. "And if she puts herself in danger for your sorry ass, I will end you right there."

The black wolf barked. It was agreement, I think.

"Not that you'll ever let her fight," Will said.

"I think it's about time I did," I admitted. "We're going on a hunt, boys. We'll find us some vampires and see how we can work, all six of us together."

Judy barked; she didn't believe I was really going to let her.

"Let's get going," I announced. Will and I phased and we were off.

_There are vampires?_ Bert wondered.

_Where?_ Judy asked eagerly.

_Guys?_ I asked.

_You don't have a plan?_ Brian wondered.

_Of course he doesn't have a plan_, Will complained. _Why plan when he can order us to think for him?_

_You really do know me too well,_ I said cheerfully_. Oh, come on. You two must have some ideas. Find me some vampires._

After a few more seconds of mentally cursing, Brian offered, _More vampires live in the southern states, centered around the big towns. And New Orleans has some for sure._

_But they'll be the freaks, flirting with exposure,_ Will said_. And can we fight in a city? I refuse to be bait._

_Okay, well, there should be more up north anyway. It's darker all the time._

_Spring equinox was a few days ago. Sun'll have just come back up._

_No more eternal darkness. The ones up there might be heading south._

_Migrating vampires? I hate my life._

_The coast is the rainiest. It's how I'd do it. Great. We're going to break into Canada._

_I liked Canada_, Will said.

_Awesome_, Judy said._ I've never been in a foreign country before._

_Shall we then?_

I didn't give the rest of them time to respond, just let them fall into place behind me as I took off, heading north. We'd spread out once we crossed the border.

* * *

><p>It wasn't immediately obvious that something had shifted within the pack as we ran, but I could feel it. Still, the way I split us up wasn't necessarily a sign. It was now clear that Baxter and I were the strongest fighters and Judy was the weakest, so she'd stay with me. Bert was less practiced than Brian or Will, so I stuck him with Baxter, where the two boys would be happy; what Will and Brian lacked in physical strength, they'd make up in brains.<p>

It was only after all three groups had crossed the border that I realized I didn't want to put Baxter with either of the older guys because it might have gotten confusing.

By the time Judy was too tired for us to continue, I think Brian and Will had figured it out, too. Baxter was too busy encouraging Bert to keep moving (I couldn't push Judy any further, so they'd have to come to us) to think.

Also, I realized Brian was right. My instincts were on the fritz. Kid didn't want my pack.

Just my sister, if the way he went right to her once he arrived was any indication, pressing up against her while she panted for breath. Then he started snarling at me. _More breaks tomorrow_, he demanded. _Bert wouldn't be much help in a fight right now and Judy's strength is her speed which doesn't work if you exhaust her._

_Thank you. Today was just to get us over the border. We'll take our time from here on out,_ I promised. _And any time you want to step away from my little sister, feel free._

He actually did move (PDA wasn't his thing, thankfully), though Judy just took a step after him, leaning on him for support. _Can we go to bed yet?_

_Two things first._ _One, congrats, I guess, Baxter. You're the new beta._

_Really?_ That was Bert, who thought it sounded neat. Brian barked his approval and Will was still too pissed about the job thing to care about pack hierarchies.

Baxter was taken aback, but not totally taken by surprised. I think he'd felt it as we ran. It made the most sense, after all. I loved Brian, but he'd never fight me if I was wrong. And Will would get me what I wanted, when it came down to it, no matter how stupid he thought I was being. I needed someone who didn't always like me to stand beside me. And if Judy thought he was okay, well, he couldn't be that bad.

_Congrats,_ she murmured sleepily.

_I'm not taking my brother's position_, he said slowly. Why could nothing be simple in my stupid life? A few months ago, he would have jumped at the opportunity for the exact same reason.

_I only got it by default, Bax. I don't care,_ Brian said sincerely enough. Power wasn't really his thing. _I think you'd be good at it. You're a better werewolf._

_Don't think it means that you'll have to be in charge if something happens to me_, I warned. Judy and Will were the ones with Ephraim Black's blood (well, maybe Bert). I wasn't sure how sturdy Baxter's claim would be through Judy if Will ever stopped moping. If Will started caring, if the kids broke up, who knew what would happen? It was too complicated. _Just that I could use you._

_You could just give it back to Will if you wanted to switch things up._

_I can figure out what Will thinks without thinking_, I said. _You're a pain in the ass, Baxter. But you might be able to last for more than ten seconds in a fight with me and—well, if it comes down to it, if I'm about to do something really stupid, I trust you to do anything you had to in order to stop me._

The black wolf dropped his head. _Thanks, then._

_Now that's settled, we really need to hunt. Bert and Judy, why don't you find us a place to sleep and we'll call you when dinner's ready?_

The kids agreed gratefully (they might even sneak a nap in there) while the four of us took off. When we felt the kids doze off, Baxter offered, _For what it's worth, we never asked anyone not to tell you._

The world had just collectively decided I shouldn't know. _Yeah, that doesn't make me feel better. This will: If you hurt her, I will tear you to pieces, light you on fire and piss on your ashes._

_Fair enough._

* * *

><p>When Will got up in the middle of the night, he didn't wake me. I woke up when I had to piss to find that my cousin wasn't lying in the grove around me. There were just five of us lying between the trees, pressed together for warmth. I couldn't smell a vampire, I couldn't hear screaming, but it still worried me, so I got up to go find him. I was careful not to wake the others and more careful not to look at the funny picture, a tiny little white wolf curled up beside this massive black bear-like creature, her little head resting on his giant paws, tucked under his chin. It was so adorable it almost made me okay with them together and I refused to be that mature.<p>

I padded into the woods, after my cousin's scent. He hadn't bothered to hide and I found him soon enough, just sitting on the ground in human form beside a large tree.

"You'll freeze like that," I said after I phased back. It was cool at night, even with our elevated temperatures.

"I can't think with all of you in my head."

"We're asleep." He shrugged. "Can't sleep?"

"We went to bed early; I've probably gotten way more than I usually get. No point in trying for more."

"We could go for a run, try tiring you out."

"You'll be unbearable tomorrow if you don't get enough sleep. I'll be fine," he promised. "I'll stay close enough that you'll be able to hear me call for help, but not close enough to wake you."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"You okay with getting demoted?" Again? But I left that part out.

"I don't care. If I ever seem like I'm enjoying any of this, I'm just pretending to make you happy."

I laughed, even though I wasn't sure he was joking. "Baxter didn't like being a wolf either."

"You think Judy would go for anyone who didn't _get_ being wolf?"

"I can't believe they didn't tell me."

My anger just made him laugh. "You can't think of any reason why someone might not want to tell his pack something? Might be so much of a pussy he forgets to trust his brother?"

"What?"

"You know, if you'd tried to stop Judy from seeing Baxter, you would have lost. Brian would have stuck up for his kid brother, Bert would have been on their side—that's four on two, assuming I wasn't too busy _moping_ to help you. Really, being understanding is the only thing you could have done if you wanted to stay Alpha."

"Get to the point."

"Loyalty's a funny thing." He shrugged. "You think Bert keeps anything from me now?"

Shit.

"Will—"

"You think there's anything about her I didn't love? For that matter, you think there's _anything_ you could possibly do that I wouldn't forgive?"

"I don't need your forgiveness."

"That why you haven't looked me in the eye for months? Why we need a babysitter to talk now?"

"Don't talk about Brian like that."

"Brian still occasionally thinks I'm a disease. And he still talks to me more than you do now."

"I—I didn't want to make it worse."

"After everything I've done to you, you really think I'm going to hate you for being sorry my girlfriend's dead?"

"She was your soul mate."

"And Bert's sister and Embry's daughter and maybe even our cousin. She loved me; it's okay that she liked you better."

"Don't exaggerate."

"It's one fact of many, Levi," he said quietly. "If I was going to kill myself over it, I would have done it a long time ago."

"I seem to remember you really pissed about not getting a gun."

"Marlena was the plan; you know I can't handle it when I don't have a plan. You know—you have scars that prove I just destroy everything when I have to make it up as I go along."

"You don't destroy everything."

"Sometimes I do," he admitted. "And she was dumb but she wasn't dumb, so she knew that too."

"Don't say that about her," I begged quietly. He wasn't listening. He was...I don't know where he was, but it wasn't with me.

"Brian was right. Not that he'll enjoy it the way he should, but he was right about me. I should have—I didn't—" He choked on something. "How do you stand being in Judy's head? How can you stand seeing the way she sees us? Not because she doesn't get it but because for some nonsensical reason she still believes that we're—not us?"

"I like it." How could you not like someone thinking you were awesome? "Fine. I miss her. I miss Marlena and I don't get to miss her because you're a fucking mess and I screwed everything up with her long before she died and I'm dealing with all that by not dealing with it. Happy?"

"Ecstatic."

"You ever going to admit to me that you've been losing weight since she died?"

He blinked; he hadn't expected that one. "You noticed?"

"Dinah complains." She saw him less often, so it was more noticeable; but even I had noticed because unlike everyone else, Will wasn't improving. He was getting thinner and weaker. "I'm going to get Brian to figure out a nutrition plan for you or something."

"You wouldn't."

"Watch me."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll talk to Brian. But finding time for fifteen thousand calories a day is hard, Levi. Judy can't manage to eat as much as she needs. It doesn't make me a fucking mess if I can't do it either."

"The moping—"

"Oh please. I haven't been moping. Stop dictating the terms of my grief like if I feel bad enough, it'll somehow mean you don't have to feel anything at all."

"She didn't like me better," I may have muttered.

"Yeah, people tend not to like me. Even Judy probably loves me a whole lot more than she likes me. Though Lena was pretty pissed you stopped talking to her after she started with me, so maybe better wasn't the right word. She probably didn't like either of us, equally, by the end."

"That makes me feel better," I said sarcastically.

Will grinned. "Me too."

"I'm still pissed at the kids," I admitted. "But I always was going to let it go. Even if she's just fifteen and I don't understand what's up with them."

"Are we really the ones to define a healthy relationship?"

"The kid was wrong about me and Kara."

"Well, you're not too old for her. Our maturity levels have never really been anything to brag about."

"I don't order her around. You're just saying this because you don't like her."

"Aside from the fact I don't like her, do you find anything about her remotely interesting?"

"As a matter of fact—fuck you. After everything you've said about her, you do not get to pretend your bitching was to do me a fucking favour. You don't like her."

"And I'm never going to. What does it matter? I'm not the one dating her."

"I don't like you very much right this second." Even if I couldn't put my finger on exactly why.

"Told you people tend not to like me much."

"Would you be happier if I got with Francy?"

Would I be?

"If she wanted you, you'd already be with her."

I hated that I thought he could be right. Even having a small part of me think that I would jump the second she snapped her fingers pissed me off.

"You seem really sure she doesn't want me."

"Something would have worked by now if she did."

"No. You've never thought I had a shot with her. You did everything short of blowing me yourself to get me over her. You're surer than sure."

It took him a second (where he probably considered hitting me because I was giving myself mental images I didn't need), but eventually he leaned back against the tree and relented. It was good for him that he had to listen to me nowadays.

"She told me she wasn't interested."

"In you?"

So, even as a human Will could pull off a very frightening snarl. "Funny, Levi. I always thought that you'd have no shot because she explicitly said she'd never date you."

"Are you sure?"

"You used to be a lot more grateful and a lot less bitchy when I did you favours."

"Talking about Francy like she had the plague was doing me a favour?"

"Yeah. And before that—Dinah's still pissed at me because she thinks I tried to sexually assault her best friend that one time. Not that Dinah wouldn't have been pissed at me for other things, but—"

"You could have just told me I didn't have a shot."

"Have you met you? I did. All that did was make you more set on her."

"Show me."

"What?"

"If she told you, I want to see."

"Levi—"

"Why can't I see?"

"Because it's my damn business." But his anger faded. It always did. The trick was to survive waiting it out. "Fine. Let's go phase."


	17. Chapter 17

_Since I'm practically sprinting out of school, I almost trip right over Fran since the idiot figured sitting on the steps was the smartest place to be. After I tell her to find a new place to sit next time, I sit down beside her and ask, _"_Shouldn't you be in class?" _

"_Shouldn't you?"_

"_I asked first."_

"_It's too beautiful to stay inside today."_

"_You're taking off?"_

"_I'll go back in eventually. Not all of us have worked three months ahead."_

_Only one (left to go). The wolves have been out lately and it doesn't seem to matter that I'm sixteen and too fucking old for nightmares. When the wolves howl, I can't sleep. I just keep hearing scratching and growling on the other side of that door, the monster about to burst in on me. I can't sleep so I worked ahead._

"_The less I go to school, the less I see Dinah glaring at me."_

"_You brought it on yourself, William."_

_My mother doesn't even call me that. No one **ever** used to call me that—I'm not even a hundred percent sure it's my real name. But since Emily got sick…well, Emily's still the only one who calls her Francine._

"_I usually do."_

"_Have you ever considered just being up front with people? Saying what you mean, meaning what you say, not trying to manipulate—"_

"_Go out with Levi."_

_It sort of bursts out because I have to say something to shut her up, but it turns out to be a good thing. For maybe the first time ever, I win. Fran has no idea what to say to that._

"_You can't be—you really want me to date Levi?"_

_The thought of Levi disappointed kind of makes me sick._

"_Oh, come on, Fran. He's a good kid. He worships you. Give him a chance."_

"_No. I mean, he's a sweet kid. Some times. But I...I can't date him."_

"_Why not?"_

"_I watched him grow up."_

_"If that's a problem for you, you're going to end up alone. Or moving."_

_And she'll never want that. Nothing could get her out of here—Uleys are all the same. Tradition blah blah happy family together forever blah blah shoot me now._

"_Levi would be like being with Brian."_

_I hate that; it's not the kind of thing you can work around even though the kid has his heart set on her and he's had a crappy couple of years. Something should go right for him._

"_If you're freaked at the idea of Levi, how come you don't care about the way your brother is pining after Di?"_

_"He is not. Guys and girls can be friends, William. Best friends. Even if other people keep judging them for it."_

_"You've got to be kidding me."_

_"Which one of us is the third wheel?"_

_"You."_

_"So which one of us would know better?"_

_"Me."_

_She rolls her eyes and tosses her hair and generally looks annoyed with me (nothing new there). "Di's happy with Alec. Brian's just happy that she's happy."_

"_And he knows she'll break up with Alec soon enough."_

_Dinah's a crazy, psycho, high and mighty bitch with standards no one can meet. I mean, she's kind of the most amazing chick I've ever met, but I can't stand her, even if she is my favourite._

_"Even if—Brian knows just as well as I do that Dinah will never, ever date my brother. Relatives are off-limits."_

"_What?"_

"_Dinah just threw an epic hissy fit at the thought of you and me—thanks again for that, by the way—and she suspects you had ulterior motives." Dinah always thinks I have ulterior motives; I usually do. "If for no other reason, she will never date my brother. Dinah hates hypocrites. Relatives will stay off-limits"_

"_Why?"_

"_Because."_

"_Is not an answer."_

"_I can't believe you need this explained. Because when everything implodes—"_

"_Who says you and Levi would implode?"_

"_I—I don't want a boyfriend who's more interested in you than in me." She cuts me off before I can tell her she's nuts. "You're like this...Yoda person to him. How do I compete with that? I don't. I'd just get stuck being an afterthought."_

_She's my size, maybe an inch shorter, if I'm lucky (I'm not), though I've definitely **finally** caught up to her. Experience would give me an edge in a real fight (she might have five brothers, but they'd all die before they'd lay a hand on her and I've been in a hell of a lot of fights), but on a metaphorical level she's a heavyweight and I'm the punk kid who really shouldn't be in the ring at all because I'm so damned outclassed._

_She'd win._

_Levi dates Fran, he wouldn't have time for me anymore. He wouldn't need time for me anymore because she could probably get him over this _thing _with his dad with just a few words. I hate her sometimes, I really do._

"_Who says—"_

"_Besides, after we broke up, whose side is Di supposed to be on?"_

"_She'd be on yours." Duh._

"_Are you really that dumb?"_

"_My mother often tells me my stupidity is why I have a record. So possibly."_

_Poor little Fran can't help but flinch. "I didn't mean—"_

"_Whatever. You're really that against the idea of Levi?"_

"_What is it about me that he likes so much?"_

"_He—" And I do not look at her legs—I never look at her legs, I refuse to give her the satisfaction—but when I catch her eye, I can't shake the feeling she's laughing at me. The scowl makes it hard to tell I'm blushing. I think. I hope. "Ask him."_

"_Okay."_

"_Fine. I'll try to talk him out of it."_

"_I'm not asking you to—just let him try on his own. Fighting with you might be even more exhausting than fighting with Dinah."_

"_Might be?"_

"_You're not funny." Then why is she smiling? "At least she occasionally listens to other people. Well, Brian. And me, if she doesn't notice she's doing it. But still."_

"_I hear she went all out for your birthday," I say because I do not want to talk about the people I should be listening to._

"_We're going to go to Seattle for the day. See the aquarium."_

"_Since when did you give a shit about fish?"_

_She starts speaking my language; sarcasm thick enough to drown you. "We've always loved animals."_

"_Well, if you have to be half a person, at least you're the better half."_

_And not just because Brian's too damn embarrassed to talk to me anymore._

"_Because I'm the half that babysits?"_

_If there's one thing in the world I know, it's anger. I get it from my parents. I take after my father, where it's unexpected, volcanic; everything pours out before I can stop it and the sulphur hangs in the air until I feel like I'm suffocating. I know Mom's moods, the eerie light that makes you uneasy though you know there's nothing you can do to prevent it, just cringe until the typhoon hits, waves crashing against you until they pull everything under. Fran makes me think of a frozen lake, so very quiet, everything stiff and white—but if you listen carefully, you can hear a tiny groan as you inch along the ice._

_I think I like it better when she's mad at me; at least then it doesn't matter to her._

_"Have I ever mentioned how annoying it is that my little brother thinks you're the best babysitter in the world?"_

_"Once or twice." Even when he's not around, the kid's the greatest. The lines on her forehead fade away. "He still loves you, I promise."_

_"Sure. But he likes you better." The pouting might even be a little real._

_She leans over to whisper, "It's because we have milk and cookies before I make him go to bed."_

_"Cheat!" Though I'm kind of impressed. "You sneak. Here I was, thinking I wasn't playing the right games, and you were just bribing him with sugar."_

_"Sorry."_

_"No, you're not."_

_"I'm really not," she agrees. "I have a reputation to protect. If your brother didn't think I was the greatest than some of the other kids might start getting crazy ideas and all of a sudden—"_

_"You're only the second best babysitter in a hundred miles?"_

_"It would be anarchy." I'm still laughing as she says, "That's why, when your brother came over yesterday I had to—"_

"_Dad was going to watch him yesterday."_

_I'm not laughing anymore. How fucking hard was it to show when you _promised_? Emily's dying and he still can't help Sam out? What the fuck was wrong with him?_

"_Something must have come up," she murmurs._

"_It's nice that I can always count on my father to fuck things up. Reassuring."_

"_You shouldn't—"_

"_Don't." Did he pay the entire family to be his damn cheerleaders? "What do you know about it?"_

_I barely know about it and I'm in the middle of it. My parents don't tell me anything, except when Mom says I shouldn't be so hard on him, he's sick. Like hell. Mom's sick (I'm not sure I'm ever going to be able to forgive her for it, but understanding means I'm trying, at least). Dad has no goddamn excuse for what he does to me._

"_I know your parents worry about you, Will. They wouldn't worry if they didn't care. Just give them a chance."_

"_How can you still believe all the _bullshit_ they keep telling us? They're lying out of their asses. Our whole lives. And they're worried that I do a few things that I don't want to tell them about? Those hypocrites! You can stop trying to get them fucking sainted."_

"_Your dad's sorry—"_

"_You just believe _everything _they tell you, don't you? Bet you even think your mom's going to get better."_

_Shit._

_Shit shitshit shitshitshit shitshitshitshit shitshitshit shitshit shit_

_"Fran, I'm sure she'll be fine. I'm just...I don't know what I'm talking about."_

"_Dad wouldn't tell us what the doctors said after her last appointment. That probably means you're right." And she's not looking at me anymore, but it's hard to miss the way her voice is cracking._

_Emily'll be fine. Uley's have enchanted lives and all that. This is just a temporary setback on their gold-plated road to perfection._

"_No, it just means your dad's too exhausted to remember what he has and hasn't told you. It doesn't mean—I was just—I'm sorry. I'm really—"_

_She's still not looking at me as she gets up. "I should get back inside."_

"_Come on, Fran, please don't look like—I'm sorry. You know I'm an idiot. I wouldn't have said it if I meant it."_

"_So why do you always end up saying it?" If I knew the answer to that...she doesn't wait for one. She knows I don't have a clue. "Don't forget about the English test next week. See you next Tuesday?"_

"_Yeah. See you."_

"Dinah's your favourite?"

"That's the part you want to focus on?"

"You're avoiding answering."

"Levi...seriously?" Will sighed. "I don't know. She was then. You were still pretty young and...I don't know. Does it really matter?"

"I always thought I was your favourite."

"I wouldn't do half the shit I do for you for Dinah."

He wouldn't have to because you didn't have to do anything for Dinah. But since it was true, I tried not to feel too hurt. It was a long time ago. Still...

"Maybe I belong with Francy because we both suck at figuring out relationships. I can't believe she missed Brian pining."

"She missed it because she wanted to miss it." Will headed back to his tree. "Kind of like you and Judy."

I flipped him off. "Though, I mean, she did kind of get it right. You were sort of my Yoda. Kind of still are."

"If I'm still Yoda, I'm force ghost Yoda. You stopped needing me a long time ago."

"Force ghost? Big nerd, you are."

"Annoying, _you_ are."

"Hey, Will? You'll always be my Yoda." I couldn't help the grin. "There's no one short enough to replace you."

"Go back to sleep, Levi," he said with a growl. "If you're going to make me kill things tomorrow, you better not be pissy."

"I'm never pissy. Right now, I'm being proactive."

"Is that what we're calling taking it out on vampires, now?"

"Yup."

"Go to bed."

So I did.

* * *

><p>Finding vampires (we had to find them before we could kill them, unfortunately) was a lot harder than just deciding we were going to find vampires. It took time and all six of us keeping all our senses peeled. I kept us in three groups; each couple had to stay close enough to be helpful in a fight, but not too close. We had a lot of ground to cover after all. It was a good thing we could run so fast.<p>

We took plenty of breaks, to keep the kids refreshed and to keep us from getting bored. It probably would have been better to separate at night, too, but none of us wanted that. We wanted to be together, so I figured the other four could run a bit further than Judy each day. They didn't mind.

We had actually picked up two promising scents on the third day and were seeing where they lead when another voice joined the gathering.

_Hey guys,_ my uncle said._ Everyone alive?_

_We're fine,_ I promised.

_How's Cambodia? _Judy wondered.

_Busy. _Exhausting, from the sound of it. He was only half paying attention to us and my uncle never stopped paying attention to people. _I promised your parents I'd check in. Nothing to report?_

_No vampires spotted yet_.

_Give us time,_ I said.

_That's good. Have—wait. What?_

_I've got a good feeling about the scent we just caught._ _We'll find a vamp soon._

_Where are you?_

_Canada!_ Judy said. _I've finally been out of—_

_You're in Canada hunting vampires?_

_Yes_, I answered, the surprise in his voice making me answer honestly.

My uncle cursed. The six of us didn't really have a response to that. _Why didn't anyone tell me? _he said once he stopped sounding like, well, me.

Baxter answered,_ I didn't know we were going hunting. Just that we were leaving._

_You need to go home right now._

_What? Why? _I thought about it. _No._

_Levi, I'm telling you, as your uncle, you really need to turn around and talk to your parents. And as someone who's met a lot more vampires than you have, I'm asking you not to kill anything while you're going back._

_I think you've been hanging around your girlfriend a bit too long._

_Levi._

_You don't want me killing the murdering monsters?_

_Go home_, he begged._ Talk to your dad. Please?_

_Well?_ I asked the rest of them. Judy was a little disappointed that she wasn't going to get to fight a vampire, but no one really wanted to fight my uncle on this. _Fine. We'll be home as fast as we can._

_Wait until after you've crossed the border to kill anything, if you have to,_ Seth said. _Promise?_

Once I had, he disappeared.

_What was that about?_ Brian wondered for all of us.

_Whatever it was,_ I said,_ I don't think I'm going to like it._

* * *

><p>I didn't like it.<p>

I didn't like it at all.

We got home in thirteen hours, tired out from the run (if we were going to be in trouble, then we were going to go down showing off—Judy had the speed even if she didn't have the endurance; we made great time) and immediately found ourselves ordered to my aunt and uncle's house. They let us dress first at least, but it was still weird.

"My house is easily rebuilt," Will muttered as I greeted him. It didn't exactly make me feel better. The Uleys arrived just after my family; my aunt directed the werewolves to the couch. I was a little distracted from the uncertainty at hand by the very annoying sight of my little sister with some guy's arm around her waist WHILE NO ONE BLINKED. Had everyone known?

"They finally told you?" Mom asked. I stopped staring (tried to get my eye to stop twitching) at them and stared at her instead.

"I found out. Last, apparently."

"If it makes you feel better, your father and I didn't take it well either."

"Yeah?"

"Your sister is very unhappy with me right now."

"He's not going to hurt her."

"We don't know that."

"Sure we do. If it looks like he's going to hurt her, I'm going to kill him. So he'll be dead, but he won't hurt her."

Mom laughed and looked a little less stressed. Good. I had slightly bigger concerns than my sister's love life right now. "You ever going to tell me what the problem is?"

"Wait until Embry gets here."

The Calls came fifteen minutes later; they had let Bert take a shower, in addition to letting him put on clothes. Once they were there, Art and the twins and Benji were bundled off with Marian and sent on their way.

"You should have told us what you were going to do," Sam said. I was sitting on the armrest of the couch, Will, Bert, Judy and Baxter squeezed together in the middle, Brian on the other armrest. Our parents had decided the best way to go about this was to hover over us, trying to look imposing.

"Baxter didn't know when he told you. I didn't think it mattered. Why does it matter?"

I addressed myself to my father. He didn't look much older than he had looked at Christmas, really, a little flabbier, a little softer, but unwrinkled and still pretty tall. He was still in charge of them, even if Sam was the one foaming at the mouth.

"You can't hunt outside our territory," Mom explained.

"Why not?"

"The Volturi." Dad kept his eyes on me. "I told you about them."

"Scary vampire government thing. Yeah."

"According to them, we aren't really werewolves. We're shapeshifters. Real werewolves—they kill off real werewolves. Killed them all. With me so far?"

"Psychotic scary vampire government," Will muttered as I nodded.

"We don't piss them off," Dad said. He stared each and every one of us down. "Even when we were at full strength we couldn't have done more than give them a hell of a fight. Six of you would be easy to kill off if they decided to do it."

"So Canada's off-limits?" I asked.

"Washington is your territory," my aunt said. "Stick in it."

"Last year, Nessie sent us to B.C." Hell, she had taken Will there for vacation.

My father explained, "She passes along jobs that won't get us in trouble. Or sometimes things Alice sees that the Volturi won't care about. They don't know every vampire, after all. But if news stops coming out of the east coast...they might think it's us. And then we're in trouble."

"_We're_ in trouble." It wasn't his pack anymore.

"The point is that unless they're in Washington or you know for sure that someone who knows someone who has the ear of the Volturi won't miss them, it's not a good idea."

"But we're supposed to kill vampires."

"You're supposed to protect the tribe," Sam said. "If they're not here, they're not going to hurt us."

"Just someone else."

"There's not enough of us," Mom said. "We can't save the world. There are a lot of people in Washington. We don't have to protect them and we do."

"We have a duty to ourselves, first and foremost," Sam said.

Did they all agree? Did it matter? It was the rule; it was the thing keeping us safe.

"Why didn't you take out the Volturi, then?" I asked Dad. "You had a chance, right?"

"There's a lot of them, for starters," Dad said slowly. "The three main ones are thousands of years old, but they're surrounded by a small army. Think blood drinking X-men."

"And like Storm X-Men," Embry said. "Not Jubilee or anyone lame like that. Super powerful, super strong, blood sucking mutants."

"Thank you, Embry," Mom said.

"We'd need help to beat them. And killing them wouldn't solve anything. We'd just be taking out the only thing keeping the rest of the vampires in line. We'd have to start killing the rest; they'd know we were coming, they'd band together. There was never more than seventeen of us. We couldn't take on every vampire in existence."

"You were immortal. You didn't have to stop phasing. We came along. Plus, if there were vampires around the kids would start phasing. That's thirty, at least."

I think it was Brian, but it might have been Baxter or even Will—someone snarled. My pack didn't want the kids phasing—I didn't want the kids phasing. I was just thinking out loud. If we had wanted to beat them, if we needed an army, maybe we could have had one.

"You can't be fucking serious—"

"Paul," my aunt warned.

"You're nuts. You're talking about total warfare for generations."

"We don't want you accidentally picking a fight," my father said.

"We don't want you picking a fight, period," Mom said.

I glanced over at Brian, who was looking kind of sick. He wasn't made to fight. Glancing down at the couch, I saw my sister had curled up as tiny as possible. She wasn't made to fight either. Will might do it, but only because it sounded like suicide. Baxter could have and wouldn't. I wasn't sure what Bert would do, or Kara, though I think Dinah would have backed me up, if I said it was the right thing to do so fuck everyone, we were going to do it. On the other hand, my imprint might never speak to me again if I let another brother phase.

"No picking fights," I promised. "If Nessie's aunt finds us some, though, we're taking them out."

"She knows how far she can push them," Dad said. "You can trust Nessie."

"Okay. We done?"

"Canada?" Aunt Rachel said. "You couldn't have stayed on this side of the border?"

But the old timers just burst out laughing.

* * *

><p>AN: So this is the rational of why I focus on the personal lives of these characters and less on the fact they turn into big scary vampire-killing wolves. I'm sure there are ways around this, but as it stands...too few shapeshifters, too many vampires.

Also, I'm writing the story of Baxter and Judy's relationship in _Strawberry Ice Cream (and other miracle cures)._


	18. Chapter 18

After the Great Canadian Failure, I went over to Kara's to apologize for maybe overreacting a little bit. Not that I had meant to, or anything, but she should understand you couldn't just tell a guy that his little sister was being violated without expecting a little bit of freaking out.

"Everyone's okay, though, right?" she asked after we finished sucking face.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't they be?"

"Levi."

"Hey, just because I made it sound like I wanted to beat the kid to a bloody pulp—" Yeah, I sucked at the whole reassuring thing, "—anyway, I'm not thrilled at the idea, but I'll let them get on with it. Okay?"

"Are they...they're not mad, are they?"

"My sister doesn't get mad. And Baxter's always mad at me. I'm trying not to think of them together."

Kara wrinkled her adorable nose. "I meant are they mad at me. For telling," she added off my blank expression.

"I thought they never told anyone not to tell me."

"Yeah, but..."

"But?"

"Well, of course I shouldn't have told you," she said. Her cheeks were red, but she didn't look quite as cute as she normally did when she was embarrassed. "Everyone knows you...it wasn't my place to say anything."

"You're my girlfriend. You're allowed to tell me things. I tell you all about the pack."

"Except where you're going."

"My bad." I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her onto my lap. She hesitated, but eventually relented and snuggled into me. Kim wasn't home yet, so life was good. "Sorry. I was in a pissy mood when we left."

"It's okay."

"Not really," I admitted. "But I'm here to make it up to you."

So I did.

* * *

><p>I was just sitting on the couch, minding my own business (well, I had just gotten off the phone with Brian who informed me Will had gained three pounds this week, but for that moment I was minding my own business), watching videos of stunts gone wrong, when Bert showed up looking for Judy. She wasn't around. It worked for me. I settled the boy on the couch. There was only so far I could push this or Will would kill me, but I was going to yell a bit, dammit. I'd only been holding it in for two weeks.<p>

"I thought I asked you not to show Will."

"What?"

"I remember asking you not to show Will my memories of your sister."

Bert blinked. "I didn't."

I almost hit him for that one. "He told me you did."

"Are you sure?"

"You didn't show him the memory I specifically asked you not to show him?"

"No. You specifically asked me not to show him." I gave my best glare; he continued. "He was worried about you. Worried about how you don't talk about her. So I told him you showed me a few things, though I couldn't show him because you specifically asked me not to show him."

But just the fact I didn't want to show him—sometimes Will made it really easy for me to understand why I was the only one who liked him.

"And you didn't?"

"No," Bert assured me. "It probably would have been better if I had. I think he thinks it was worse than it was."

"She never really cheated on Ray."

"I was talking about the parts where she kind of doesn't like him."

"They didn't really talk all that much back then. And he was kind of a dick to her." Bert didn't really seem all that impressed by my talking so I just said, "Well, good you haven't shown him. Keep it up."

Bert stood up, but didn't leave. "Actually. There's something I kind of want to show you. If you don't mind?"

"Uh, sure."

So we went outside to phase.

"_Do I want to have sex?"_

_I pause the game just in time to see Judy collapse onto the couch. I'm not sure I paused it fast enough to properly hear her. I hope I heard her wrong._

"_Do you?"_

"_Maybe."_

_Okay. "Should I call Baxter?"_

_She rolls over so she's buried in the couch pillows. I'm not exactly sure, but I think she moans, "I don't knooooooooooooooow."_

"_I'm going to call him if you don't stop eating the pillows." Mom likes the pillows; not that I've ever given it much thought, but I kind of like the pillows too._

"_Dinah is useless," Judy says as she turns around. In a voice that sounds nothing like Dinah's, but I think is supposed to be, she continues, "You'll know when you're ready; make sure he's not pressuring you...blah blah blah. As if Baxter would."_

"_Okay." _

_"Is he…he hasn't come in here freaking out about anything, right?" I should have said something instead of just shaking my head because the silence sets her off. "I'm super careful about my teeth. And he seems like he likes it. But maybe he's just saying it. Baxter would just lie to make me feel better. Maybe I really do suck at it. Ha! Suck at it. Get it?"_

"_Judy." It's shorthand for 'that was too much information, Judy, I know we're best friends but please stop talking sometime soon.' Judy is big on oversharing (thankfully, the only time Baxter even remotely mentioned it was with a brief, "It'll look bad if I hit her ex-boyfriend, right?" Since he was right, I had to find other ways to help Dan realize he was an idiot. They had been equally satisfying, I think)._

_"So...no freaking out?"_

"_Baxter doesn't really freak out."_

_He occasionally gets annoyed and sometimes goes silent, but I have yet to see him start making a scene when everything could just be talked out. It was awesome._

"_I know," she admitted. "He's so wonderful. So, so wonderful and I want—I want him so badly and it looks like so much fun and Baxter's totally amazing at everything so I figure—"_

"_Judy." 'That's too much information...'_

"_And I want it to be him." Technically, that's probably too much information, too, the way her voice sounds just then where I can tell exactly how she feels (and how much) just from the way she talks. But it's kind of nice. A little scary, kind of—even Marley in love with her soul mate hadn't sounded like that. Marley might not have been scared by much, but she wasn't **totally** reckless. Even she had some restraint. Sometimes. Sort of. _

_Judy still scares me sometimes._

"_But he's freaking out?" I'd be willing to bet my entire house that whatever the problem is, it's not Baxter overreacting (underreacting, maybe, but not overreacting). But I can usually follow Judy if she explains enough._

_"Mom—" Judy growls. I don't think it went well. _"_She thinks we're way too serious."_

"_Because you want to have sex?"_

_Not that I'm the best representation of my generation, or so I've been told, but even I want to have sex (I recognize that it's not going to happen, ever, and that bites, but that's why they invented the internet). We are teenagers. With weird hormones, but still. Hormones._

_"I don't know. She just says we're too serious and tells me not to see him so much."_

_Orders always work on the Black kids._

"_My dad says your parents got really serious like the second they started dating. Might just be a wolf thing she's scared of."_

"_The wolf stuff makes it super complicated."_

"_With your Mom?"_

"_With Baxter."_

"_Huh?" Which means, 'I thought the wolf stuff was why everything was great or at least part of the reason and can't you always find a way to look on the bright side so what is going on here?'_

"_Apparently," she says, "I'm super fertile at weird times and we have to be super careful. Mom...kind of freaked me out."_

"_Oh." So that's who was freaking out. That sucks._

"_I know. Apparently my hormones are all wacky so he just has to be super, super careful and blahbadidy blah."_

"_I'm sure he will be."_

_"Well, duh. It's Baxter. And he talked to Dr. Cullen and found out Mom like kind of exaggerated the whole wacky fertility thing. It's only like once in a while where we should just not."_

"_He talked to her?"_

"_Yeah, it was Sam's idea." She grins at me and pretty soon we're fistbumping because Baxter talking to his dad (even if it's about sex...and I don't know how he did that because I'm pretty sure Marely never talked to either of our parents even though Marley could talk to anyone about anything and she was totally not subtle when she started 'studying' with Ray) is always a good thing. Maybe they'll have a real conversation soon; I think Baxter would really like not having to be mad on his mom's behalf anymore._

_"She says if I do heal up afterwards, she's pretty sure she could fix me surgically, though she says not to worry about it because chances are all the sports I played and everything means it should be okay and even if it isn't it doesn't mean the healing powers will kick in about _that_. Mom could have me so she thinks our bodies are smart enough not to make sex suck forever and ever."_

_Now my mental images are kind of gross._

"_Judy." 'I never needed to think about your...girl parts-ness.'_

"_What if it does happen? What if every time is all painful and bloody and stuff?"_

_That would really suck. _"_She said she'd help you."_

"_Yeah but..."_

_It's kind of a cheap shot, but it'll cheer her up, I think, so I say, "You scared?"_

_"Of course not," she says quickly. "It's just...__everyone's going to know."_

_I've never seen Judy care that anyone could read her mind. It's a little weird._

"_Levi won't hurt him."_

_Much. There would probably be a punch or two or six that Levi couldn't help. Baxter could take a hit. It would be okay._

"_Everyone's going to talk about it. They might...you know, some of that stuff they say about those girls...they might start saying it about me. That would really suck."_

"_I think Baxter would put a stop to that pretty quickly. And I'd never say that. Or think that."_

"_Yeah?"_

_That means 'That's really sweet and I totally appreciate it, but it wasn't you I was worried about in the first place.'_

"_Besides, Dinah will kill them."_

"_True," she says, breaking into an enormous grin. "She did say that this morning. And she said to say hi."_

"_Really?"_

_That's nice. I didn't expect that; she's going to call on Thursday and last week we spent a whole hour after the school stuff arguing about our favourite Rambo movie, so it was all good. But an extra hello is nice._

"_Yup."_

"_Cool."_

"_So what do I do?" Judy asks, rolling right off the couch until she's on the carpet beside me. I can only shrug._

_"Why would I know?"_

"_But what do you think?"_

_For all that she overshares and overtalks and overtouches and just generally goes overboard all the time, Judy's actually really good about giving a guy time to put his thoughts in order. What do I think?_

_Baxter would be careful; not just the physical/medical/crazy wolf stuff, but of the more important stuff too (he's being careful even now because I don't think it was Levi's idea to have them stop running patrols together and it certainly wasn't Judy's for all that she isn't sure about what she wants to do). _

_I like them best when they're together. They're happier and calmer and just nice to be around. So if they want to be together some more, they should._

"_If you want to."_

"_Do I want to?"_

_"Well, what do you think when you're with him?"_

"_That he's mine. And that's like the best thing ever." Her nose wrinkles. "Why does the rest of the world have to be so confusing?"_

"_I don't know." I know it's a dumb idea, but maybe...when he occasionally decides to take the problem seriously, Levi's really good at helping her. "Have you tried talking to your brother?"_

"_Levi's solution would be kill Baxter so I don't have to think of any of this," she says. "That would be bad."_

_I suppose she could have sex with him if he was dead. But it would be a lot less romantic so I get why she'd like to avoid that._

"_Will or Brian?"_

"_It would put Brian in a weird spot, I think." Yeah, the Uleys are pretty unapologetic about sticking together; Brian would try to help her, but he's always going to be on his brother's side. "And Will's got the whole monk thing going on now so I'm not sure if he'd be okay talking about it."_

"_Not totally monkish. I think he was looking at Kara's boobs the other day." I mean, more likely he was staring in horror at how not second-hand her sweater was or possibly trying to figure out where to drive the stake through, but his eyes had definitely lingered._

"_Hey, Bert? Maybe it's a good thing he's just got himself to worry about."_

"_Marley said—" I don't think having him happy will bring her back. I know nothing will do that. I do. But, just, she'd want me to take care of him. And _if he was happy, maybe it would almost be like she was just... __

"_Okay. We'll find him someone. Promise."_

_"The monk thing might just be to annoy Levi."_

_"Oh, it's totally to annoy Levi," she agrees cheerfully. "And to avoid having to go out."_

_And because he doesn't really like people all that much in the first place._

__"Yeah." __

_"You guys start your _Star Trek_ marathon yet?_"

_"Friday. If Levi doesn't make me take the evening patrol."_

_"Levi's been kind of snappy at you since Canada, hasn't he?"_

_He can't take it out on Baxter or Judy would be mad; he likes Brian most of the time; trying to take it out on Will tends not to end well. I'm okay with him ordering me around. Must be a family thing._

_"He'll get over it."_

_"You have to make him get over things. I pinch him a lot. And call him names."_

_"If I called him names, he'd probably just hit me."_

_"Well, then you need something that would, like, totally paralyze him," Judy says. "You could...you could show him this conversation." She bursts out laughing. "Oh man, he'd turn purple."_

_"You wouldn't be embarrassed?"_

_Judy doesn't understand the question; it was a dumb question. She just chirps, "You so should."_

_"Okay then," I say._

"Could you never, ever try standing up for yourself again?" I practically begged Bert when I phased back. My ears! My eyes! My brain! Fortunately, I couldn't hear much beside a very loud internal, 'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!'

"We thought it was funny."

"You and my sister are obviously evil," I decided. "Get out of here before I forget I can't hurt you."

"Yes, sir. Sorry about the memory, sir."

"Sure you are."

But maybe I had brought that one on myself. I made a mental note to be nicer to Bert in the future. Well played evil little sister, well played.

So when she came home I promised I'd still love her even if she did get knocked up (I would do my best for my pack, but a guy had to draw the line somewhere or people really would think I was responsible now).

* * *

><p>My uncle showed up in the middle of April with terrible, awful, no good news. Nessie was, in fact, coming a few weeks later. My parents, obviously, had different opinions on whether her arrival was good or not (let's just leave it at that).<p>

It actually wasn't so bad.

She had her own things to do and though she did spend a lot of time being led around the rez by my father, he was only crazy enough to make us have one horribly awkward family dinner.

Dad made Dinah come down from Seattle for it. Grandma Sue and Charlie came over, too. Kara and Baxter were drafted as well and for one long horrible moment Dinah threatened to bring Francy as her date. Fortunately, that fell through, at least, so my imprint escaped the torture.

There were no fights (well, my uncle got a rather long lecture from his mother and sister about his crappy life choices, but that was less of a fight and more of an ambush and my uncle shrugged it off). So it could have been worse, I suppose. It was just horribly, horribly awkward and it was even worse after dinner.

I had to apologize to her.

Fortunately, she was kind of dead so her face didn't move all that much as I explained that, yes, I maybe shouldn't have tried harassing her into finding me vampires to kill during the fall and winter and whatever part of spring had just passed.

"You weren't that bad," she said. Nessie was a really shitty liar. I almost asked her if she was sleeping with my uncle, just to see how she'd respond, but I remembered that I was trying not to be a dick to her. It sucked.

All I said was, "Still. Sorry about that."

"I understand. You were just frustrated."

What an understatement.

"We've never gotten to practice fighting just the six of us."

I was glad I didn't have to do weights every freaking day nowadays, but still. I would have liked something more to show for turning into a giant wolf than just the muscles. And I knew that Judy might enjoy everything and Bert might roll with everything, but the other three were (with varying degrees of keeping it to themselves) pissed that we were supernatural freaks—and that it kind of seemed pointless. At least if there were vampires around we could be killing things.

"I just don't think there's much I can do but tell you if Alice sees anything."

"It's better than nothing. Thanks. And again—sorry about before."

I was turning to leave when she blurted out:

"Would you be interested in working for the Volturi? I don't know how safe it would be but I can...test the waters about something like that. They might be interested in guards that can go out in the day and you'd get to fight the worst vampires there are."

"It's kind of asking for trouble, isn't it?"

"It might be," she admitted. "I wouldn't talk to _them _about it until I thought it was safe. But..."

Okay, so I was grinning.

"Yeah. If something comes up," I said."Sure. Don't go out of your way, or anything, but...but yeah. I'd like that."

It probably wouldn't work out. I knew that. So I settled for begging the universe at large to send me some damn vampires already.

The universe responded by fucking me over.

* * *

><p>AN: Since I've already spoiled this for some of you, chapter 19 is narrated by Kara. Chapter 20 is from Francine's perspective and Chapter 21 is from Dinah's. I'm very busy until May, so there may not be an update until then.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: I am so sorry this took so long. My computer ate the first draft, a storm knocked out my internet, I moved...lots and lots of excuses, but it's finally here. The next chapter should be up in a week or so!

* * *

><p>"It'll be fun."<p>

"I'm not saying it wouldn't be. I just..."

"Kara, it'll be fun. Why wouldn't you want to come?"

How did she explain so that Levi understood? He wasn't scared of anything. Ever. So how did she get him to understand that she was, well, maybe not scared, but definitely _something _of spending the weekend in Seattle with his friends? She didn't even know where to start.

It wasn't that she didn't like his pack. Judy was super sweet, Brian and Baxter were always nice to her and Bert was fun to sit beside in class. Will...well, one time a customer had started yelling at her and Will had grabbed him by the wrist and said something very low and quiet and she had gotten a fifty dollar tip afterwards (when she tried to thank him, later, Will looked right through her until she found herself stammering, so she wasn't sure if that counted or not). But they were mostly okay.

She wouldn't have minded spending time with them around La Push, like when Levi and Brian would come to her house to visit or like when Judy was with Baxter and Bert and the three of them would invite her to join them once she got off work. But she never really spent time with all six of them.

She didn't mind. Kara loved Levi but she still couldn't quite believe he was her boyfriend. She'd been in love with him for such a long time that sometimes when she looked at him she had to pinch herself because there was no way Levi Black was sitting beside her, impossibly tall and strong, looking at her in a way that made her melt. Things like that didn't happen to her. Nothing interesting happened to her.

Until the neighbourhood werewolf had decided he liked her.

Now everything was different. It was wonderful. It was perfect.

Except he wanted her to go to Seattle.

They would go to Seattle and stay with his sister, his sister who was more than just a little intimidating. It wasn't just that Dinah was six feet tall and beautiful and could do everything ever whenever she decided to do it—it was that Dinah had an opinion on everything and she wasn't afraid to tell you.

Dinah didn't think her brother should be dating Kara.

Not that Dinah ever said that, exactly. But Dinah's...Dinah-ness was somehow worse than Will's outright hostility (because at least that only happened when Levi was around to defend her and then Levi would be super nice afterwards to make up for it and he wouldn't forget to call the day after Will was rude). Because Dinah wasn't exactly rude and she wasn't exactly unkind there was just something about the way Dinah talked _around _her that left Kara feeling like she was invisible.

Worse, Francine was in Seattle.

It was such a terrible thing to think because Fran was so nice to her. When the wolf stuff was too much, she could always call Fran, who knew exactly how to make it better. And there was always something to do when Fran was around. Since they had become friends, Kara had seen more in the few weekends Fran was home than she had in the whole rest of high school. A girl couldn't ask for a better friend.

Only...only Fran was beautiful and kind and smart and beautiful and why wouldn't you fall in love with her if you had the chance?

"There's not going to be enough room if I come."

"We can cram into the back of the van." Levi laughed. "Or you can sit on my lap. Whatever you want. We'll fit."

"Moms won't let me."

"You haven't even asked."

His dark eyes flashed; he was looking forward to the challenge of convincing her mother. Levi was never happier than when he was trying to get his way. It frightened her, but in the best possible way, made her want to press against him and let him do whatever it was he did that left her feeling absolutely amazing.

"I just don't think she'll like it."

"I'll handle it," he promised breezily. "It'll be fun."

"Yeah?"

"Promise. Didn't you like Seattle last time?"

Her cheeks were burning; her ears were burning, too, the way they did when she got really embarrassed. Levi had that effect on her.

"Yeah."

"Well, then. We're going after school Friday. I'll pick you up then."

"I have to ask first."

"Okay, but once your mom says yes, I'll pick you up after school Friday. You free tomorrow night?"

"Yeah. You wanna come over?"

"Working on your psychic powers?" He wagged his eyebrows and looked ridiculously good-looking, so she was giggling a little bit as he came closer and kissed her. She still wasn't sure how he managed to do that when they weren't sitting down, but she figured it required a lot of leaning. He really was too good to her.

Seattle couldn't be that bad, right?

* * *

><p>The car ride wasn't so bad. She did get shoved in the back, but she was beside Judy, which was the best possible outcome, since Judy wasn't as impossibly big as the rest of them. Judy didn't seem to mind being stuck in the middle of the seat either, just made sure Baxter kept his arm around her shoulders as she sprawled across them. Levi was in front of Kara, turning around to talk to her occasionally and Bert was beside him, talking to Baxter and Judy. It was kind of nice.<p>

They had more to say to each other than to her, but she didn't mind. They weren't ignoring her; when she didn't get something someone remembered to explain. Bert didn't say much either, but sometimes when the Blacks would argue he'd look at her and she'd know someone else was just as overwhelmed.

"What's the occasion for this?" she asked.

"Levi has once again decided we're going to be awesome," Baxter offered.

"We're already awesome," her boyfriend said. "I just thought it would be nice."

"They have exams soon," Baxter said to her.

"They need to relax," Judy said, shifting yet again. "And we haven't seen them in forever."

"Don't look at me like it's my fault," Levi protested. "Just because Dinah was scarred for life by the dinner from hell."

Kara shivered, trying not to think about the vampires with their marble skin and their habit of standing perfectly sill. They weren't like the werewolves, who made her nervous because there was something not quite right about them, even though they wouldn't hurt her (Levi promised). The vampires were different. It wasn't that they weren't quite right—it's that they were all wrong. Everything about them made her want to creep closer, from their startling beauty to the sound of the voices to the smell coming off them (what the heck was that about? Levi was the only person on the planet she had ever thought smelt good and that's because he had a habit of pressing close so that she had to bury her face in his neck). Knowing she wanted to be close to them while knowing just what they could do—vampires had killed her father; that sentence always made her want to freak out a little—it left her terrified.

"They've been busy," Baxter said.

"Do you think they'll have time for us?" Bert wondered.

"They'll make time," Levi said. "I asked."

"You know how to do that?" Baxter wondered.

"I can make you run the rest of the way there," Levi threatened with a smile.

"You want to?" Judy asked, twisting so she could look her boyfriend in the face.

It usually made Kara blush, seeing the two of them together. Sometimes Judy looked like she was trying to eat him, or at least perform osmosis of some kind, like she could climb on top of him or press close enough to him that they could be one person. Kara couldn't imagine doing that in public; she couldn't even imagine that in private, needing someone so much that the walls of your cells were keeping you too far apart.

She loved Levi, she really did, but she didn't need him more than she needed air. She wasn't sure what Judy would pick, but she was a little scared to ask.

"Not really," Baxter said. "Bert?"

"I don't want to get there all sweaty."

"My sister won't care," Levi said.

"I know. Still."

"If you really want to run..." Baxter offered.

But Judy just shook her head. "It's kind of nice like this. Besides, then Kara would be the only girl and I know how much that sucks."

"What's wrong with being the only girl?" Levi wondered.

"When it's just me, all they talk about is bitches and whores," Judy said. Maybe. She squealed and hid her face in Baxter's chest so quickly Kara wasn't quite sure what she had heard (Judy did manage to dodge Levi's hand, though).

"They only do that sometimes," Baxter said. Bert was bright red; her boyfriend just looked annoyed.

"Don't talk like that."

"You started it," Judy muttered, settling herself more comfortably in Baxter's arms. "Are we doing anything tonight?"

"I was thinking party," Levi said with a shrug.

"Could we just stay in and bond or something?"

"Do we have to?"

"Let's take a vote." Judy called out, so the whole car could hear, "Do you guys want to go out or stay in tonight?"

"We're fine with whatever the rest of you want to do," Brian said after glancing over at Will. They all did that—with looks they seemed to be able to communicate all sorts of things. Being in each other's heads had the consequence of making them seem telepathic when they were in human form (sometimes, she thought she'd lost her mind, thinking about her boyfriend 'in human form'. Who in the world did that?).

"Since it's their house, maybe we should ask—"

Levi waved his hand at Bert. "Don't worry, kid. Dinah will make her opinion known just fine. Jubes?"

She glanced over at Baxter, who shrugged and let her answer for them. "I kind of wanted to stay in. Unless you want to leave us alone in Seattle again. That would be awesome."

Kara was pretty sure Baxter's face was slightly redder than it had been, but she wasn't going to say anything if no one else was.

"Or not," Levi said. "We came all this way. We might as well go out."

"But it'll be nice to just spend time with Di. What do you want to do?"

Kara jumped as Judy turned to face her. She hadn't quite expected...Judy shot her puppy dog eyes. But so did Levi. "Whatever you all want."

"I guess going out wouldn't be so bad. As long as I at least get a girly day tomorrow."

"What?" Levi said.

"A girly day," Judy explained. "I haven't spent any time with Dinah in forever. So we're going to do breakfast for sure, just the two of us. Francy suggested the four of us could do the whole girly thing the rest of the day, too, and meet you guys up for dinner or something."

"Sounds boring," Levi said.

"Sounds awesome and you're jealous. Do you want to?" Judy asked her. "We don't have to, it was just an idea."

Kara glanced over at Levi, whose concentration had drifted to the front seat, mocking his friends for talking about something as useless as politics. "It doesn't matter to me," was all she said.

* * *

><p>The night wasn't as bad as it could be. Before Levi—her life was divided into before and after Levi, it seemed, before and after Levi realized she was alive, because that's when her life got crazy terrifying and strangely exciting, but also where she began to miss the calm that came from just having her and Moms and a life that did what she expected—Kara hadn't done much on Friday nights. Her friends would go out, but rarely, usually just getting together to talk. There wasn't much to do, but what there was could be dangerous so it was better not to get involved. Now, Levi made sure they were always doing something, even if she couldn't always tell Moms (unless the pack needed something and then she was back to doing nothing, which is how she realized she missed it so much).<p>

The people around her—the people after Levi—didn't like doing nothing. Even staying in on a Friday night (Dinah decided with the sort of cool nonchalance that made Kara a little jealous because she knew she could never just announce to _everyone_ what they all had to do) involved a lot of shouting and music and anything that made noise (Judy had somehow gotten her hands on a tambourine). Levi had pouted about having to stay in until Bert managed to get some sort of fight thing on the screen and now they were almost all cheering in front of the television. Well, Judy and Dinah were cheering while Baxter and Levi argued over who was going to win, Will took bets and Fran tried to talk to Bert who had much rather be watching the game (or maybe he looked uncomfortable because Dinah wasn't exactly impressed by the way the two of them were curled together in the corner).

"I think we're done," Brian said. Fran had said they didn't need to clean the kitchen, but everyone else was a little too distracted by the fight and it didn't seem fair to leave it for Brian to do all by himself.

"Oh. Good."

He laughed (though Brian was very good about laughing so you knew he wasn't laughing at you). "There are other things we could do besides watch ridiculously muscled guys beat each other up."

"Really?"

"Well..." Brian sighed (just a little). "Still. We could...would it be super lame if I asked you if you wanted to play cards?"

Kara found herself smiling in relief. "What do you want to play?"

"Anything but poker."

"Crazy eights?"

Brian grinned, called over to his sister for cards. Fran complained about having to get up, so Dinah offered to get them (mostly so she could storm out of the room because the Blacks kind of had a thing for dramatics). Brian glanced over at his sister, who shrugged innocently and went back to patting Bert on the knee.

"What is she doing?" Brian asked.

Kara a bit her lip; it wasn't really her place to say anything even though Brian looked upset and he was always so, so nice to her and Levi was worried about the way the Uley twins were getting along (because he was super good friends with Brian. Mostly). It was just...

Fran was wonderful and sweet, but, well, she was kind of a horrible flirt.

She flirted with the guy at the coffee shop and the guy at the grocery store and the guy behind the counter at the fast food place. She flirted with every guy at every party she went to; it was like she _had _to flirt with them, if they had a y chromosome and were within twenty feet of her. It didn't matter if they had girlfriends or not, Fran flirted.

But Bert seemed happy enough to be sitting with her, so Kara just said, "They look like they're catching up."

Brian didn't look convinced, but glanced down at his cards. "So don't hate me too much, but pick up five."

It was on.

"So don't hate me too much," she replied, "But pick up seven."

Brian was graceful in defeat (he was always gracious, really) so they played a few more hands. They played until the fight was finally over.

"It's just a break before the next one," Brian warned her quietly. Right.

Levi grew bored with waiting. One giant hand reached behind him, finding her leg, tugging her over. "Come down here," he pleaded so she did, slipping off the couch and into his lap. He wrapped his arms around her; they felt heavy against her. It was the muscles, bigger than even the men fighting on the screen, a weight that made her feel safe and warm and happy all at the same time.

"Comfy?" he asked, pressing a kiss to her neck. "Hey," he said over his shoulder, "So how come you never told me you made out with Ester?"

"Because we were just kids," Brian said, hitting Levi in the head with a pillow.

"And she's made out with everyone," Dinah said from the other side of Baxter and Judy. Sitting right beside the other couple, Kara could see how Baxter was frowning, looking between the Black sisters and his brother, probably hoping none of the other girls his brother had kissed had sisters.

"Two out of six werewolves isn't everyone," Levi said. "It's not remotely impressive."

"You think she can get to half?" Dinah asked. If Ester Cook wanted to kiss half the werewolves, she'd have to start with Bert (the thing she loved most about Levi, the thing that drove her crazy sometimes too, when Will just _wouldn't_ like her, no matter what she did, was that he wouldn't cheat on her with Ester Cook, even if the older girl was gorgeous and spending loads and loads of time with him. Levi just wouldn't. The only thing more important than loyalty to Levi was the wolf stuff). No wonder Dinah didn't like it.

"It can't be a competition," Judy complained. "It's not like I can kiss myself so I'm at a clear disadvantage."

"I guess you're stuck with the consolation prize," Baxter said. Judy scared Kara, sometimes, but Baxter made her blush when he looked at Judy like that; his smile when Judy turned around to glance at him, his expression when he brushed his nose against Judy's, the two of them off in their happy little world, made her feel like she was intruding. Even Levi left them alone, though Kara was pretty sure she felt him elbow Baxter once Judy had turned back around.

"There's also the small problem of two-thirds of the pack being kind of closely related to you," Fran pointed out.

"Not that it stopped Lena from trouncing all competition," Will said, a strange mixture of pride and pain and annoyance in his voice. "Why was I the only one who waited until I was sure she wasn't related to me before I kissed her?"

"It was hot," Levi said as Brian said, "I was depressed," and Baxter said, "She was really persuasive."

"You could try to beat her," Judy said to her. Kara just snuggled further into Levi, smiling to herself when he growled. "When you have the best, you don't need the rest," he declared. And he kissed the top of her head for good measure.

"And Kara's nowhere near as _friendly_ as Marley was," Dinah said.

"I guess it's up to me, then," Fran said, something rather unfriendly about her expression. Her eyes flickered over to Will. "Does that thing during the play count?"

"Why would that count?" he asked. It was strange hearing him sound amused, but he was less scary this way so Kara heartily approved.

"There was spit." Fran wrinkled her nose. "You were a gross child."

"It was your idea."

"Well, then I was a gross child. But does it count?"

"Even if we weren't disqualifying everything before we hit double digits," Will said, "That shouldn't count."

Fran shrugged easily. "Fine. Only one for me, too, then. But I'll find some way to catch up."

One.

Bert was sitting beside her but Kara didn't think for a second that Fran had ever kissed him. They were so much younger than the Uley twins; Brian still thought she was a kid sometimes, even though she was dating his friend. Process of elimination meant that Brian, Baxter, Judy and Will were all out so that just left...

One.

They didn't often talk about the girls Levi had kissed (and other stuff) before her, though Kara knew there was more than a few. Levi even had a few pictures on his phone that...well, he'd deleted them, but it seemed like there had kind of been a lot of them and...but that was before and he was so different now he was another species. What happened before didn't count.

But he should have told her he kissed Fran.

She was his _soul mate_. It would have been nice to know he had kissed her before. It would have been nice of Fran to tell her beforehand, instead of just casually announcing it to a room full of people so that everyone would know.

The fight started up again. Levi's cheering was too loud; he didn't stop her when she climbed out of his lap. Why hadn't he told her?

Because he knew if he started talking about it...

He didn't talk about Fran. It was pretty obvious, so obvious Kara couldn't miss it even though she really, really wanted to. The only person he talked about less than Fran was Marlena Call and she was _dead _so there wasn't that much to say. Levi worried about everyone and everything but he wouldn't talk about Fran with her and now she knew why.

Levi wouldn't lie to her; it wouldn't occur to him to bother lying. When he needed to lie, he tended to just get Will to do it for him (or get Brian to talk him out of it in the first place). He didn't talk about Fran so he wouldn't have to mention that not only was she his soul mate, not only were they destined to be together, happy together the way her parents had once been happy (so happy that Moms could never find _anyone_ who could make her that happy again), not only was she stupid and perfect, but he'd also kissed her before.

"Another round?" Brian offered.

"Thanks."

For more than just the card game, but Brian understood.

* * *

><p>When it came time for everyone to go to bed, Fran organized everything. She gave everyone options, of course, but people agreed quickly. The twins would share Fran's room (Levi was all for twin bonding time; it would be sweet the way he wanted to help Brian if she could be sure he just wanted to help Brian), Kara would join Dinah, and the werewolves would take the floor in the main room (there was the couch; it was supposed to go to Judy, but she was already half asleep on Baxter and not letting go, so Levi and Baxter were having a silent argument over her head as Kara followed Dinah into her room).<p>

Dinah's room was neat enough, the kind of neat Kara recognized as being hastily done a couple hours before people showed up at your house. Fran's room had more junk on the dresser and fewer items on the walls. Dinah's walls were covered; she was apparently a huge fan of the collage. Pictures of her with various people were everywhere. Her sister featured prominently, various ages. The Uley twins were everywhere and there were some of the rest of the pack. There were lots of other pictures, too, of people Kara couldn't recognize and one of Levi with his arm around Kara that had been taken at Christmas. Her boyfriend had been eating, but he had pulled her in front of him in the picture, where he stood towering over her as she barely came up to his armpits.

"You like?" Dinah asked.

"Yeah," Kara said quietly. "Do you have more of Levi?"

"There's him and his girlfriend," Dinah with a smirk, gesturing at a picture by her desk. Kara felt herself flushing, but walked towards Dinah instictively (you went where Dinah Black told you to), glancing at the picture of a younger Levi with his arm around the shoulders of a slender girl half turned away from the camera...

"Oh," Kara realized suddenly. Relief spread through her belly and she smiled up at Dinah. "I forgot how long Will's hair used to be."

"Longer than mine ever was," Dinah said absently, moving down the wall, fingers drifting up to point to her and the twins by the beach. "Brian's was never _that_ long. But it was...his hair was nicer. Before."

Kara privately thought Dinah was wrong (and she was glad Levi had always had short hair because it made it easier to see that it was the same boy, grinning up at the camera from years ago, telling the new teacher that her name was Kara and that she spoke loud enough for the rest of them to hear so none of them were the problem, kissing her goodnight just minutes before) but didn't say anything. She just looked at the picture of the two girls under Brian's arms (Dinah ducking slightly, Fran using a combination of heels and hills to make her appear almost the same height as the other two) and smiled.

Spending the night with Dinah Black was actually a lot less terrifying than Kara had thought it would be. Dinah let her pick what side of the bed she wanted and didn't hog all the sheets. And when Kara woke up the next morning thanks to a sharp pain in her shin, a quick poke had Dinah startling awake. And looking deathly embarrassed.

"Did I kick you?"

"It's fine," she muttered.

"I'm so sorry," Dinah said, the first time Dinah had ever sounded really, truly friendly. "I just move a lot when I sleep. I've been trying to stop just—I can't seem to manage."

"It's not like you did it on purpose."

"Still. Sorry." Dinah swallowed again and stuck out her tongue. "And sorry about the breath."

Kara let herself giggle and Dinah smiled back and it was nice. Maybe it was the early morning—maybe it was because she had never talked to Dinah without Levi around. Sometimes she worried that she missed out, having such a hard time talking to strangers. But it was just so hard and Levi was so good at it.

"I'm getting up. You going to try to go back to sleep? Do you want me to call you when there's food?"

"I'm good," Kara said, following Dinah's lead and sitting up. "Judy said you and her were going to get breakfast?"

"I think we pushed it to afternoon tea or something." Dinah rolled her eyes, but she wasn't scary when she was talking about Judy, only pretending to be annoyed because it was the worst kept secret on the rez, the way the Black family all adored Judy. "We'll probably be doing brunch all together this morning. The boys will cry if they don't get fed."

She grinned, with teeth, reminding Kara why they weren't good friends because it was frightening. Still, she followed along, out of the room, where Will was by the stove, cooking eggs by the looks of it, while Fran cut up fruit and Brian read the paper, leaning over to show his sister something interesting. The three of them looked up when the floor squeaked underneath Dinah, but no one said anything, just all silently waved.

Bert was sprawled on the couch, feet hanging off the edge. On the floor, just beside the couch, Baxter and Judy were spooned together, his arm tight around her body, legs tangled together—it looked very uncomfortable, but they were sound asleep. Kara loved cuddling, but she didn't understand how they could sleep that close together. Though they looked gorgeous like htat, like they were out of a commercial or something, both of them long and lean and muscled, with their perfect skin and preference for as few clothes as they could get away with. It really wasn't fair.

Neither was Levi's bare chest, open to the world as he lay on his back snoring a few feet away from his sister, showing off his perfect abs. It was kind of strange to see him like this, lying still when he usually had to be moving, but it was weird too. Wasn't she supposed to feel like he looked innocent while he slept, or vulnerable, maybe? But Levi didn't do vulnerable (well, there had been a moment when Nessie first came to visit, but the better he got at the Alpha thing the less..sometimes she felt a little guilty, for missing the way he used to be a little unsure sometimes).

"You want the washroom first?" Dinah whispered.

Kara shook her head (it didn't make a difference) and let Dinah go first. Fran waved her over to the kitchen, but didn't seem to dare say anything until she was closer. It was probably close to ten, but they would let the others sleep as long as they could.

"Dinah didn't snore, did she?" Brian asked as she wandered closer to the three of them.

"No. It was fine."

"Good. You're going to need to be well rested," Fran said. She leaned over the counter, the strap of her tank top slipping down her shoulder. Not that it mattered; her shirt was skin tight. It wasn't going anywhere. Not that it covered much in the first place; even if the guys hadn't been wearing shirts (which was as disappointing as it was odd) their shorts had more material than Fran's entire outfit. That was the result of wearing shorts so short they didn't really qualify as pants anymore.

Fran was wonderful and sweet, but, well, she dressed like a total slut.

She could get away with it; she had these gorgeous shirts that showed off her back that Kara could never ever wear (things did not go so well when Kara did not wear a bra) and she seemed to always know what looked good with them. But Kara thought she would get awfully cold dressing like Fran all the time. She got too cold enough as it was (maybe that's why she had always liked Levi; he was so warm all the time).

Fran continued, "Judy has a lot planned for us today."

"Meanwhile, Levi's going to run us into the ground," Will complained.

"Or get us arrested," Brian said. It may have been meant as a joke, but he looked a little nervous. Like the wolf he was, Will grinned at the sight of fear.

"You are not allowed to get my brother arrested just to see him behind bars," Fran said.

"But it would funny," Will said, winking at Brian.

"But we'd have to pay bail," Fran shot back.

"You think we'd waste money bailing Brian out?"

"Of course not," Brian muttered, thought the two men seemed vastly amused by themselves.

"You could break yourself out," Will said. "I believe in you, Brian."

"Or you could try not listening to Levi in the first place," suggested Fran.

All three of them looked at each other for a second and then tried very hard not to laugh. Kara knew exactly what they meant. It was very, very hard to say no when Levi wanted something. He was just so...Levi.

"You like them scrambled, right?' Fran said, taking the plate from Will and offering it to her.

"Oh, you go ahead."

"I'm waiting for the bacon," Fran explained. "If you don't eat them, Di will. You put up with her last night; I figured you should get first dibs."

"Go ahead," Brian said. "But save some room for the pancakes."

Dinah came out of the bathroom then and it was nice, just sitting around the kitchen table watching them all talk. They all seemed to know so much about everything; Dinah and some friends had been protesting outside the administration building and the four of them went back and forth arguing about whether it was a good idea or not (not that anyone really expected to change Dinah's mind).

The second the bacon hit the pan, the other four woke up.

"That's beautiful," Levi said, coming up behind Fran and staring at the pan.

The older girl turned away from the stove, after letting him put his hand on her waist for a moment. "Then you cook it."

"Can I eat it raw?"

"I'll do it," Baxter offered. "I'm tired of raw meat."

"But it's so good," Judy said.

Bert handed Kara a glass of orange juice, sitting down beside her. They'd never been close or anything, but they'd partner up sometimes; he was never standoffish or anything, but he was hard to get to know (she probably wasn't the easiest person to get to know, either). But it was nice just sitting beside Bert, who was probably the one person in the room she might have been friends with even if the wolf thing hadn't happened.

His silence was a startling contrast to the rest of them, who existed shouting over each other. Bert shot her a smile and it was nice, having someone to weather the storm with.

"You guys have to go out," Judy was saying to her brother. "It's girly day."

"How about I just let you braid my hair and we'll call it even?" Levi joked.

"Shut up," his sister ordered. "Levi. Please."

"We can only run around the park for so long."

"So go shopping or something. Or do you really want to listen to me talk about the size of Bax—"

They were remarkably fast. Kara jumped at how quickly Baxter managed to get a hand over his girlfriend's mouth—not that it stopped her brother from looking rather murderous. The older werewolves were busying themselves with the food and Bert was trying to hide a smile (Dinah laughed openly and Fran was telling her to shush and trying not to laugh herself).

"Seriously?" Levi whined.

"Sorry," Judy whispered to Baxter, who was still kind of blushing. "But seriously, Levi. This is super important and I will play as dirty as I have to."

"Brat," he said, grabbing her and giving her a noogie while she squealed in protest.

She got her way, though.

* * *

><p>The four of them went to the original Starbucks and then wandered through the Pike Place market. Judy loved the knickknacks lying around and her sister loved trying to talk her out of buying everything, while Kara and Fran trailed after them, catching up.<p>

Kara felt a little guilty when Fran asked about school and her friends and was just so interested in hearing what she had to say even though Kara hadn't wanted to come to Seattle to see her at all. She was kind of a terrible friend. Meanwhile, Fran was so wonderful when she needed someone to listen to her problems with Moms.

"It's just not the way it was. And it really sucks. I mean, I'm glad I have Levi. I really am. But it's weird not telling Moms everything. I feel just...it's awful not telling her everything."

"Does she just not like talking about him or...?"

"She doesn't like any of the wolf stuff."

"I can understand that. My Dad still has a hard time talking about your dad, too."

The strange part of losing her father before she was born was that it felt strange telling people she had lost him. Kara had never had him. There was something missing, maybe, something she couldn't put her finger on and she assumed it was a Jared-sized hole in her life, but she didn't really know. It never occurred to her to blame the wolf stuff for that emptiness even though the idea of werewolves and the idea of having a dad were both equally as bizarre to her.

"I don't know how to get her to understand it's safe."

"As safe as it can be," Fran said. "Oh, check out her shoes."

Boots like that would never fit over her calves. Fran seemed to love shoes, the taller the better; how that worked out with her insistence that she didn't like dating super tall guys was beyond Kara. She bet it looked funny.

"They're cute."

"Sorry. We were trying to figure out a way for you to make your mom think it was safe...I don't know that there's all that much we can do."

"I was afraid of that."

"Are you still getting bruised?"

"Not really."

"Nothing that hurts, right?"

"Right." Fran didn't look like she believed her—Kara was mostly being honest, so she said, "And Moms doesn't know about it. And she still worries."

"You think she doesn't know about it."

"It's almost annoying." And she felt just terrible complaining about Moms, but there it was. "She doesn't have to worry about me."

"She'll learn that eventually. You just have to give her time."

"What are we going to do for lunch?" Judy called back to them, skipping over, pulling her laughing sister behind her.

"It's three in the afternoon," Fran said. "How can you still be hungry?"

"I'm super starved." It wasn't fair; Judy didn't have an ounce of fat on her. She was almost too skinny, really (Brian was a little worried she wasn't getting enough healthy food). Dinah was growing her hair out, so now someone might have to think a bit before picking the wrong sister as a werewolf.

"There's another coffee shop I know," Fran said. "As long as we don't talk about the size of my brother's penis."

"You're missing out," Judy said cheerfully. After Fran stopped swatting her (and laughing) they started walking.

By the time they got to the place, Kara was exhausted. They three of them and their stupid long legs seemed capable of walking forever. She didn't mind sitting in the corner and listening as long as she didn't have to keep huffing and puffing to keep up with them all.

Once they were all settled and Judy was munching away on her cookie (Kara only took a little bit—it just looked so chocolately, it would have been rude to refuse), it got as bad as Kara had feared.

"So everything's going good? Penises aside," Dinah said. "Penii?"

"Penes," Fran offered. "I have five brothers. There was an argument. Don't ask."

"Wasn't going to," Dinah agreed. "So, it's good, Jubes?"

"It's wonderful," her sister agreed, her feet curled under her, an enormous smile on her face. "He's wonderful and it's wonderful and I'm wonderful and...everything's wonderful."

"Sounds okay," Fran teased.

"It's just really nice," Judy continued. "I mean, I have the pack, too, and it's sort of the same thing, but super different too. I tell Bert lots of stuff too, but it's just different with Bax. I don't—" She growled a bit, trying to work it out. "I can just tell him _everything_ and he just—I just—he's just so, so good to me and when I'm with him I'm just so, so happy and ..."

"It's wonderful?" Dinah asked, gently.

"Yeah. Super wonderful."

"Levi's being okay?"

"Yeah. Not like he makes it easy for us to be alone or anything, but he doesn't go out of his way to hang around us either."

"Good. And you're being safe?" Dinah continued.

"Yes, Mom."

"Mom says you won't talk to her."

"She doesn't like him." There was something ferocious about Judy's expression that made Kara shiver.

"That means I have to check," Dinah said with big sister finality. "So you're being safe?"

"Yes!"

"And it's fun?"

"Yeah," Judy said, giddy again. "It's really, really, really, really super fun. He gets a little bossy, sometimes, but it's kind of nice."

It was kind of nice when you didn't really have to think (how was she supposed to know what to think? She had no idea what she was doing). Kara found herself blushing, just a little.

"You guys have talked about limits and what you're comfortable with and all that, right?" Fran asked.

"A little. We don't really have to."

"Judy," Dinah said, in a way that reminded Kara that, yes, Dinah was terrifying. "You can't just assume he can read your mind."

"It's not my mind he has to read. It's...it's different with us. We're good with body language. I don't think Baxter could not notice if I was uncomfortable."

"That doesn't mean he'd stop."

"Hey," Fran snapped, furious. "My brother would never—"

"I didn't mean _that_," Dinah said stiffly. It was a good thing because Judy was showing off a lot of teeth and Kara may not have been an expert on body language but she could tell that while Fran was unhappy, Judy was even more mad than that. "I just meant they should talk about these things."

They all looked so tense that someone had to say something. Kara couldn't believe it was her.

"Aren't you worried about the imprinting thing?"

"Who's left for him to imprint on?" Judy said easily. "He worries sometimes, but there's really no point. Nothing we can do about it until it happens."

"Even if it did," Dinah said, "I'm sure he'd stick by you."

"I have it on good authority he thinks you're pretty wonderful, too," Fran offered.

"He tells me," Judy said proudly. It wasn't easy to be jealous of Judy, who acted like she'd give you the shirt off her back if you made the mistake of saying it was cute, but Kara managed. Not that Levi wasn't sweet or anything. Well, Levi really didn't do sweet. But sometimes he did, just for her. Still. Judy sounded so happy it was hard not to be jealous. "I know he'd do his best. No point in worrying even if..."

"Judy?" Dinah called.

"I just," her sister explained, looking lost, more like a puppy than a werewolf (it was as supernatural as the rest of her, her ability to go from happy to sad in a blink of an eye), "I really don't want to lose him."

"You wouldn't," Dinah said. "Imprinting can do a lot of stuff, but it can't make him love you less."

Just give him a shot with the girl of his dreams.

"It does do something," Judy admitted. "Brian wouldn't have left you if it didn't do anything."

"Brian preferred his fantasy world, as always," Dinah said. "Like imprinting is so damn great."

Considering how many people around La Push seemed happily coupled off, Kara found it hard to understand Dinah's doubt. Her parents had been happy; all her mom's friends were happy. When Levi looked at Fran...Brian never looked more relaxed than when he was talking to Ginger...and Bert just looked so happy, just being near Dinah...even Will had been almost nice when Marlena had been around...how could it not be great?

"It seems to work for some people," Fran said.

"Yeah, my aunt and uncle live in happily married bliss."

"They both have problems, Di. Who knows how much more difficult it would have been without each other?"

"You can't possibly believe that."

"I believe their relationship is their business."

"Fine," Dinah said after she glanced at Judy. "I still say nothing good comes from imprinting."

"My entire family wouldn't exist," Fran said.

"You're really arguing for it?"

Kara didn't look up from the mocachino she probably shouldn't have had. It didn't really matter what Fran thought, Fran who always encouraged her relationship with Levi. It mattered what Levi thought.

Right?

"I'm saying it has it's pros and cons like anything else."

"Like what?"

"Like—"

"It makes the guys happy," Judy interrupted, seeing as the older girls were glaring at each other. "It makes them all super, super happy."

"That's good," Kara said lamely if only because someone had to say something and it didn't look like it would be the older girls.

Judy frowned. "Is it mean that I don't want Baxter to imprint?"

"Oh, sweetie, that's not mean at all," Fran promised, her argument with Dinah forgotten. "It's just wanting what he wants."

"I always knew he was my favourite," Dinah declared.

"He's the only one who was never scared of you," Fran said.

"He's the only one with sense," Dinah said. "I'm not scary at all."

* * *

><p>Much, much later, they headed home. Judy and Fran ended up ahead, talking about places a girl could slip off to if she wanted to avoid a large number of overprotective brothers, while Dinah walked beside her. They talked about the market, which Kara had never been to before, but it was hard coming up with things to say to Dinah. Dinah seemed to understand that, too.<p>

"She wouldn't be any good with my brother."

"What?"

"Francy. They wouldn't be any good together. So you should stop worrying about it."

There were a lot of things to say to that—how sure was Dinah? What business of it was hers? Did she have to be quite so blunt all the time?

"I'm not."

Dinah snorted. "Sure, kid."

Kara wanted to say a lot of things, but in the end settled for saying, "Why wouldn't they be any good together?"

"He's my kid brother," Dinah said, like that explained everything. "And she's too...they wouldn't work out."

It was not very convincing.

Maybe Dinah understood that because she stopped walking. She was too tall for a girl; Kara had to crane her neck to look at the older girl in the face. "Listen, I don't want to be rude or anything, just...why would you be with someone if you think he wants to be with someone else?"

"He does like me."

"He does. He really does." That was so nice to hear. "Kid, it's not just about finding someone you think is incredible. It's about finding someone who thinks you're incredible. You deserve that."

"He's getting better about her."

"Okay."

"He really does like me."

"I agreed with you."

"Well, then?"

"Then I hope the two of you are happy," Dinah said. "Really, truly."

And she seemed like she meant it, so Kara said, "Okay."

* * *

><p>At home, they were trying to find Judy something more to eat when Kara's phone went off. She stupidly decided to read the text message out loud.<p>

"Levi says to meet up for dinner at eight. There's this Thai place they found."

"How nice of him to give us a choice," Dinah said, rolling her eyes.

"You've been sort of cranky this weekend," Judy said. Maybe. Her mouth was full of bread. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Dinah snapped. It made Judy flinch.

"We need to start getting ready soon if we're going to be on time," Fran interrupted. "Why don't we—"

"Baxter thought you were mad at him," Judy continued. "Brian and Will promised you were just mad that they were breathing your air, which is really a sucky thing to have them both thinking, Di. Bert assumes you just hate him on principle and even Levi has to put effort into ignoring the way you're being mean."

"They're awfully sensitive for a bunch of supernatural creatures, aren't they?"

"You were that bad," Fran said quietly.

"I've had things on my mind."

"So...?"

"I'm confused," Judy said as the two older girls looked at each other. That made two of them.

"You're getting too big," Dinah complained lightly, looking rather sad.

"Kara and I are going to go pick up groceries," Fran said quietly. "The guys finished all the orange juice this morning. We'll be back in time to get ready for tonight."

"Okay," Dinah said, nodding. "I'm not saying..."

"You can do whatever you want, Di. You always do," Fran said as she grabbed her purse. Kara wasn't exactly looking forward to all that walking, but figured Fran might walk a little slower if the Black sisters weren't there.

When they were outside (and probably out of hearing, though it was hard to tell with the werewolves), Fran did slow down.

"Dinah's..." But whatever explanation she had been about to give obviously didn't please Fran because she didn't manage to complete the sentence.

"Levi did sort of invite everyone over without really asking anybody," Kara said.

"She's used to him. It's not...she can handle anything except talking about her feelings. It makes her...but I think it'll be good for her...how can Judy be be bad for you, right?"

"She's super sweet." Super energetic, too. Kara wasn't always sure how Judy managed to just keep going like that all the time. But if she had to pick between bouncy and Dinah, well, Judy would win every time.

"While putting up with all those boys," Fran said with a laugh. "The telepathy still freaks me out."

"Levi says it's more like talking only you can't help oversharing," Kara said.

"Which sounds awful."

"I don't know. Levi says that it makes it easier to help each other because no one has to pretend to be strong and stuff."

"You guys talk about the werewolf business a lot?"

Kara wasn't sure if Fran was curious or concerned, but wasn't ashamed to answer, "He tells me all about it."

"Aww.

Kara felt herself blush, but felt pleased just the same.

"So what are we getting at the store?"

"Breakfast for tomorrow. We cleaned out the fridge today; I underestimated how much they'd eat." Fran babbled on, listing groceries and the best places to buy milk for cheap and, "We might want to grab something for a midnight snack, too, because we'll probably go out and then they'll come home late and they'll be hungry and—did you hear that?"

"Yeah."

It was howling.

"You think it was them?"

"I think it was Bert." Levi had been trying to teach her the different voices in his pack. Judy was the easiest. The Uley brothers were impossible to tell apart and she usually mixed up Will with them, too, but Levi was deeper than the rest and Bert she could usually identify. "Levi might be making them practice fighting."

It made sense, though she jumped when a second later there was another voice in the air. No one she could identify.

Fran was frowning. "What are they thinking? They shouldn't be calling attention to themselves here."

"I don't know."

"Do you think they're okay?"

"I can't tell what they mean unless I'm really close by," Kara admitted. Levi had been trying to teach her, but he got distracted easily. And it was complicated and...she really did not want to know if there were vampires nearby.

"Have they texted you?" Fran asked, checking her phone. "I want to know what all the fuss is about."

"We can go back," Kara said. They hadn't gotten very far. "Judy can phase and find out what's going on. They probably just got caught up in the hunt."

"We might as well leave them be. Dinah'll kill me if we..." Fran shook her head. "It's only been a couple of minutes. We shouldn't be interrupting. It'll make me feel better. Judy can tell them to knock it off for me."

"I'm not so sure she'll be good at that," Kara said as the two girls turned around.

"You ever seen her get mad?" Fran asked.

"I've seen her and Levi fight a couple of times. Though that usually just involves a lot of shouting and pinching."

It was always adorable watching Levi with his little sister; he was _so_ careful about not hurting her even though she had superpowers and wasn't scared at all about hurting him. And he was just so protective of her and wonderful and sweet...

There was another howl a minute or so later, which made Fran walk even faster, long legs moving quickly now that she was annoyed. They hadn't been gone long; longer than five minutes, less than ten. Fran opened the door.

Kara screamed.

There was so much _blood._

Dinah was in the middle of the carpet, almost the way Levi had been this morning. Only her shirt was still (mostly) on. And she had her hands on her stomach.

And the blood.

So, so much blood.

They got inside. Somehow. Fran was kneeling beside Dinah, saying something. Dinah...was awake, but Fran was ordering her around and Dinah didn't look like she could argue. Kara couldn't really hear over the sound of blood rushing to her ears and the soft whimpers.

In the corner of the room a white wolf huddled against the wall. There was blood all over her. On her paws and on her face and under her claws...and it all belonged to her sister.


	20. Chapter 20

The paramedics had questions, of course. Lots of questions that couldn't be ignored. With the questions came help, so she answered them. Francine would have answered them a thousand times if it helped. Somewhere between all the questions, or maybe all the answers, they left the bloodstained carpet behind.

There were more questions at the hospital. They'd been friends since before she could remember, so of course she knew the answers. Everything there was to know about Dinah, she knew. The good, the bad and the ugly—all that Francine knew. But they just asked if there were any allergies (none at all) and if she was on medication (she had a cold a week ago, but had decided to just get over it and so the cold went away) and then gave her forms.

Lots and lots of forms. Paper questions, she realized, but she sat down to answer those too. Kara whimpered beside her and Fran hugged the girl. Later, something would come to her and she would reassure Kara. Once the questions had been taken care of and Dinah was going to be fine, she'd find the right words. Until then, she brought Kara to the washroom, helped her clean off the blood ("nothing to worry about—Dinah gets herself tested once a month, so don't let the blood scare you"), bought them some clothes without bloodstains from the gift shop and then hugged Kara one more time. There were forms, but those could wait. Kara calmed down once she was clean. It was back to the chairs, back to the forms.

And the waiting. So much waiting.

The questions were worse when they were written down, she realized. So much worse, having everything scrawled out in blue ink. The forms made this all _real_ in a way she could not deal with right now. Not again. Not another hospital with its endless paper work and very kind nurses that just couldn't help. Not the lemony fresh disinfectant that always made her shudder.

When the forms were filled out she could gaze among the patients, where everyone looked confused and thankfully no one looked like they knew the number of tiles on the floor (why had Brian counted?) and no one greeted the nurses by name (she'd only learned to be polite). There were just lost looking people, families and couples and people sitting there all alone, all of them waiting, watching with common sympathy as another woman walked in, a little boy, Will—

Dinah was going to kill her. Because it would obviously be _her_ fault that Levi had expected his cousin to go take care of everything at _the hospital_, her fault Will hadn't said anything even though he shouldn't be within a hundred feet of this place. Somehow it would be her fault.

And she was disappointed—why? Will would be far more useful, not like Levi who didn't need details when he could get by on sheer force of personality (but Levi could have made this all just a bad dream).

Still, she stood up to greet him. He didn't stop like she expected, just kept moving towards her. For the first time in seven, eight years he was hugging her. She almost laughed at the absurdity of everything. This time he was warmer (she was shorter than him now). Was he shaking this time too? No. That was her. She was the one trembling and—she had to pull herself together.

Even before he started talking in her ear, she understood that he wasn't terrified about Dinah, clinging to the first person he could find; he just wanted to make sure this stayed private. "We've got Judy. They won't find her."

"Good." They'd be looking for a giant white dog that only existed some of the time. "You shouldn't be here. If all you come it'll look like—"

"I know what we look like," he hissed. Five guys looking the way they did couldn't go anywhere without people expecting _something_. The last thing they needed was people thinking gangs and deciding they needed to investigate further. "The rest aren't coming; I'm just here to pass on updates."

"I would have called."

He hesitated, like she didn't have a right to know, then explained, "It'll be better for Judy if we can make her feel like it's true."

Or maybe he hadn't wanted to say anything because she wasn't sure that made sense. "I guess you would know best. But Brian needs to be here, at least."

He wouldn't forgive himself if he wasn't, however much he didn't like hospitals. She knew her brother that much, still, at the very least.

"Levi and Baxter might be the only two who could phase back right now and they won't. But they're working on it."

So Baxter was with Judy. Francine didn't have time to wonder how long that would last, how long her brother could ignore what couldn't be ignored. He'd been so happy with her, so happy and maybe he could learn...maybe, but she didn't think so. She'd worry about that later.

Will was asking, "Did they believe you, that it was a dog?"

"Authority figures like _me_," she whispered back.

Until they didn't. She thought her brother might still believe, the way she had for much longer than she should have, that if you played by the rules everything would work out. Well, even being wrong was better than what Will did—take everyone's low expectations and sink even lower, a perverse sort of power coming from proving everyone right. When she thought about it, she thought it might be why Levi had to be in charge. There was no way to win, so Levi didn't even bother to play. He didn't even bother to notice there was a game going on. And maybe she was pushing that metaphor to the breaking point, but the idea stood—the only thing that you could let matter was what you thought.

It took her far too long to figure that out and she still had to remind herself of it most of the time, but she was pretty sure she was at least on the right track now.

"That'll make things easier. Kara okay?"

"In shock. They let me do most of the talking. She'll be fine once we get out of here."

"Hopefully." Then, louder, as he pulled away, "How are you holding up?"

"Fine. You hungry? I can get you something to eat."

Will looked at her like she was nuts—she felt crazy, she felt like she was watching him watching her as she lost her mind—but that faded.

"Sure. Take your time."

"Don't let Kara out of your sight," she warned as she left.

There was a washroom nearby, but she couldn't use that. Too many stalls, too many people going in and out, too close to the werewolf who could hear and who could probably guess too much already. Out the building she went, walking and walking, wanting to walk forever even though she couldn't leave Dinah, across the street to the bathroom of the fast food place.

Francine walked inside, locked the door and burst into tears.

Ugly tears. She'd always been an ugly crier; over the years she managed to master herself enough that she could tear up without really crying, but she never could stop them from starting in the first place. But no one was around and the door was locked and Dinah had been bleeding from her stomach...

As she struggled to breath between the sobs, she wondered how on earth she would survive without Dinah, Dinah who always knew exactly what the situation needed, Dinah who could do anything through sheer willpower, Dinah who was always there, always there, even though Francine wanted her to just go away. But that's what sisters are for.

There'd been so much blood.

Dinah didn't get hurt. Dinah was invincible—even when she was crying and vulnerable, Dinah still seemed made of iron. Even though they were growing apart, even though they didn't share secrets under the covers in the middle of the night anymore, they would hold together because that's what Dinah wanted and Dinah always got what she wanted. Dinah would be fine.

Had to be. Always would be. Dinah said so and Dinah was always right (except when she was wrong, so very wrong, and Fran just held her hand). But it had been Black blood, spilt between the Black girls, and Francine didn't know what she was supposed to do.

How did she end up back in a hospital?

It made her cry and shake and want to scream the way the scratches across her sister's stomach hadn't. Francine could not stand in another hospital and hear more bad news. She couldn't. She couldn't. She'd fall apart, break into tiny pieces, blow away with the wind. She was not strong enough for that. Not without Dinah. She needed Dinah if she was going to stand there and get more bad news.

"We're terribly sorry." Terribly sorry. I know it's terrible; there was no waking up. They used to go and watch, breath by breath, her life seeping out into the bright halls and the lemony fresh walls and out past the nurses in their brightly coloured scrubs. Francine could not be in a hospital.

She also couldn't spend all day on a bathroom floor.

It was disgusting. Even before she had properly finished crying, she realized she had to get to her feet. It took some time, but she really shouldn't leave Will with only Kara watching him, Kara who didn't know she should be watching him, Kara who needed watching over with a delicacy Will wouldn't provide, and anyway, Dinah wouldn't like it if she wasted time in a washroom doing absolutely nothing. A few shaky breaths and she was fine. The doctors would look after Dinah and Francine would look after the rest.

Right.

The mirror was a mistake. She looked terrible, red and splotchy and a bit like someone had hit her in the eye. The cold water helped. A little. A bit. Enough. She waited a bit, took a few more breathes and splashed some more water on. Her purse—there was blood on her purse, so she set about cleaning that up. The faster she got it out, the faster this could just be some nightmare.

Her purse had enough makeup in it that she could do something with her face. Dinah would laugh at her vanity, but Dinah looked like a supermodel without trying (Dinah could have modeled if she cared enough to learn what angles would hide the way her shoulders were just a bit too broad for a girl), so Francine always had to try, even when they were kids. Somewhere along the line it had stopped being about impressing the cute boys and just become habit, but she liked the reassurance of it.

Today, she put too much eye makeup on; if she started crying, she'd be a mess, so she better not start crying. The woman in the mirror nodded back.

She bought some food from the restaurant just in case the others got hungry. Who knew how long they'd have to wait for? The doctors had said it would depend on how deep the scratches were.

They were both still there. Kara looked lost and Will was doing a terrible job of trying not to fidget. When she came over he said, "I haven't called her parents. I figured I'd just end up traumatizing them."

"I'll do it." She couldn't believe she had forgotten. "You hungry, sweetie?"

Kara took the food gratefully and Francine went outside.

What did she say to the Blacks? There's been an accident—so cliché. Was it even true? They all knew what the werewolves could do. Did it even count as an accident? Dinah would be furious at her but...well, it was Judy's fault. Francine understood it must have been an accident and she wasn't going to hold it against the poor girl but one day they would all have to stop being surprised that bad things happened when the werewolves lost control (and they _always _lost control—it was just a matter of when).

"Hello?"

Aunt Leah. She'd hoped for Jacob Black; he was easier to talk to even if they were both good in a crisis. Aunt Leah had been wonderful when—Francine needed to be away from this hospital as fast as she could.

Still, she explained that something had gone wrong, that Aunt Leah was going to want to come to Seattle as soon as possible. It's fine, don't panic, you don't have to scream Jake so loudly, it'll be all right soon, just calmly drive over if you want to be here when she wakes up like I'm sure you will. There were a few questions, but nothing as bad as the people in the ambulance. She answered them the way she answered the others, calmly, cooly, she knew these answers. Dinah would be fine. Everything will be okay. Don't worry. Let me handle it.

"We'll be up as soon as we can."

"Drive safely," she warned. "See you soon."

Francine returned to the chairs, told Will his aunt and uncle would be up soon, let Kara cling to her arm, greasy fingers against her skin, gently rubbing the girl on the back. Poor dear. There would be no convincing her mother now; there might not be any convincing Kara.

"Can I—" Kara blushed when she had their attention. "Would you mind if I called Moms?"

"Go right ahead. Just don't talk too loudly, okay?"

Kara nodded, took the cell phone Fran offered and all but fled the room. She'd have a moment with her mother (and Francine did not care, was not jealous, refused to be that petty); maybe she'd be better afterwards.

"Poor kid."

"She might be tougher than you think," she said.

Will didn't respond; he didn't give people the benefit of the doubt (she understood, now, but even after everything she still wanted to believe; probably wanted to more than she actually did). They went back to waiting.

"She wants to go home," he murmured. "She wants her mom to come pick her up and take her home."

"Should I go talk to her, you think?"

"Make her stay?"

"Make her feel better."

"I think amnesia's the only thing that could help right this second."

There was anger in his voice, but that wasn't new. Dinah was the only person in the world who could beat Will when it came to being angry at life—it should be fair, they thought, they would have made it fair, so why the hell wasn't it fair?

Why wasn't it fair?

He started biting his nails as they waited; it was a disgusting habit, one she tried not to pay attention to. But there was nothing else to do and his hands were waving in the air.

He wasn't biting his nails.

It was the obvious conclusion to draw as she watched his fingers come to his lips and then move away again, over and over, almost mechanically, one at a time. But biting your nails shouldn't leave hints of red against your skin, a tiny drop of blood on your lip. It wasn't his nails. He was biting the skin around his nails, chewing it off and spitting it out in what had to be a health hazard. Pieces of his flesh torn away and strew across the floor.

"Stop that," she said, grabbing at his hand.

"What?"

"It's disgusting," she said. The tips of his fingers were slick with spit. Strangely, his nails were in remarkably good condition, almost as long as hers were and hers were almost long enough to be inconvenient (how fast did his nails grow now, she wondered? Not as fast as his skin, she realized, because Will was terribly, horribly practical about things). But around the nails his skin was pink, the wrong colour for the rest of his hands. The scarring was the only sign left. "What do you think you're doing?"

"We heal fast."

"I know you pride yourself on being self-destructive," she said as she stared at the damage, wishing Dinah were here to say something, "But cannibalism, William?"

He laughed. "I can't just sit here." It was a fact and maybe even a bit of an apology. "Anyway, it seemed like a good idea at the time."

Didn't it always?

They were sisters, Dinah and Judy, and so what if Dinah was in a lousy mood? She wouldn't take it out on Judy. Even if she did, and Dinah was usually a stickler about only taking it out on the people who deserved it so she probably wouldn't, it wasn't like it would matter. Judy never got mad about anything. Everything would be fine. It had seemed like a good idea at the time.

Warms fingers curled around her hand, thumb drawing light circles on her wrist. She was holding his hand hostage, she realized, but his fingers were gentle—too warm. Unnaturally warm. Feverish. It felt nice though.

"Are you trying to be comforting?"

Another day and she wouldn't have pressed, would have known better. It didn't work if you called him on it. But it wasn't another day (today he decided to understand—so effortlessly that it made no sense that he couldn't do it all the time), so he just laughed again.

"At least I've finally figured out that yelling at you doesn't help."

Her senior year hadn't seen either one of them at their bests. So she had cried and he had yelled. He'd been cruel. Worse, he'd been right. She had to pull herself together because her father was too lost to help her anymore. And she could do it (do anything) if she just stopped crying.

She never told Will she hated him for that year (he already knew that). She never thanked him either.

They circled around the subject the way they circled around each other, the same silly superstitious fear in all of them that if the three of them were alone together again they'd all magically revert back to the way they were. They all had too much to lose if that happened.

Or maybe she was just projecting her own irrational fear. After all, maybe it was just that her father had always hated Will. Living proof Sam couldn't protect them all, no matter how hard he tried—Will was proof her father kept failing. He never handled failure well.

"She'll be fine," Will said.

"It's like she got stabbed."

"More like someone took a swipe at her." She wasn't interested in semantics; he got that. "Even if she did die, which she won't, she wouldn't be angry with you. Whatever you were fighting about."

Francine knew that—sort of. She knew that Dinah would forgive Judy because that was Dinah for you. And Dinah would be more likely to come back from the dead to tell Fran to just get over it already, then to want her to torture herself thinking it mattered that they'd spent the better part of last week arguing over absolutely everything. Still.

"Who says we were fighting?"

"You think I don't know everything about fighting with Dinah? It's like my one useful skill." Will shrugged. "You disagreed with her about everything just to annoy her. Because she hates it when you say she's wrong."

"Not everything," Fran muttered. Just most things. Will made it look far less exhausting.

"And you didn't imply you'd defiled Bert just for fun."

So he was amused. That was lucky. She hadn't really thought it through, just opened her mouth to make Dinah shut up already. One of these days, Dinah had to forgive Marlena for hurting her boys (honestly, it's not like the girl died just to annoy her). Or maybe Dinah still hadn't forgiven her for kissing Brian first. Or maybe it was just that she was Bert's sister and Dinah couldn't seem to stop wanting to punish the boy because no one told Dinah what to do, certainly not some invisible mystical force.

"It's not like I lied," Fran said, demure and ladylike. She almost sounded innocent. She wasn't at all surprised that Will changed the subject.

"So what were you fighting about?"

"There was this guy. Don't snort, William, it's unattractive." He rolled his eyes but went quiet. "He's in her lab and he adores her and he's sweetheart and she will absolutely not give him a chance because she's hung up on someone."

"Or she just doesn't like the guy."

"Or she's hung up on someone. Maybe my brother, maybe Bert—I don't care who. I just want her to admit it to herself before—"

"Kid's starting to freak out."

Will found Kara quickly. The girl wasn't as bad as Francine had feared; she was crying, yes, sobbing so hard she was inarticulate, but it was quiet crying and the girl released the phone quickly. There was a small problem in that Kara flipped a little when Will came near her, so he ended up on the phone with Kim while Fran hugged Kara. In the end, Francine just took the phone from him while Kara clung to her because Kim was freaking out and Will was getting more and more annoyed that she was doing so while _his_ cousin was the one in the operating room. Kara had calmed down enough that Francine managed to get Kim to promise she wouldn't come up to Seattle and make a scene eventually. It all worked out.

Will even looked a little apologetic when she glared (because just a little bit of tact would not, despite what he seemed to believe, kill him) and said, "Hey, kid, you don't have to wait here if you don't want to. We can take you somewhere else if you want."

And the girl looked so tempted Francine didn't even protest even though...she didn't like how quickly she would leave Dinah if it meant she'd get to leave the hospital.

"It's okay," Kara said eventually. "I just...is Levi coming?"

"He's busy," Will said. Snapped, more like. Though he hurried to add, "He took the time to gloat about how proud he was of you before I left. You were pretty brave back there."

"I wasn't..."

"Sure you were," Francine interrupted. "You stayed with Dinah that whole time."

Kara might not have remembered, she had been crying so hard. But she'd stayed, done what she was told and Francine was grateful that there had been someone else there, so it wasn't just her, all alone and trying to calm down a terrified werewolf while Dinah was bleeding all over their floor.

Levi must have spared a moment for the girl—right? Did it matter? Kara was happy so...but Fran knew if it was any of her other friends, if Kara and Levi being together wasn't what it was to her, she'd have said something long ago. Are you sure this is what you want?

She'd yelled at Lena. But then Lena had yelled first, looking for a fight instead of having everyone keep whispering behind her back that dating Will Lahote was not going to end well. Fran had been more scared for Lena than she was for Kara (and, if she was perfectly honest with herself, beyond furious at Will for just disappearing so that she'd thought...and then reappearing with a girlfriend and his life together the way she'd always thought was impossible). But she'd known Lena the way she didn't know Kara; a fight and it was over and a, "You'll see, Fran. He isn't nearly so bad as I thought. A little on the scrawny side—" "They can't all be built like monster trucks, sweetie" "—but kind of adorable. Trust, okay? The second he pulls any of his crap, I'll never speak to him again."

And because it was true—Lena got her way, thank you very much—Fran had let it go.

Kara said everything was good, so who was Francine to interfere? She just laced her fingers through the girl's hand and said, "I couldn't have gotten through this without you."

Kara squeezed until Francine's fingers were numb. But she_ was_ tougher than she looked. A minute later and she let go. Francine had a tissue in her purse, which the girl took gratefully, so they could all get back to waiting.

It was a long time.

A long, long time.

They waited such a long time that one time when Will went outside to give the pack an update, he came back with Bert. At that point, Francine was so exhausted all she managed to do was mumble, "Is that a good idea?"

She was going to kill Levi for doing this to her. Later. If—no, if. Dinah could kill Levi for her.

"I have to be here," Bert said to her. He just stood there, such a young face on a man's body that it made her a little sick (she should have eaten something hours ago). His eyes were too large on his face; there was too much fear. It was too hard to hide her own when she looked at Bert.

"Have a seat," she said as she hugged him. His grip was too tight (he hadn't hugged like he was afraid it was the last time when he was a kid and she wanted to cry for a good long while about how unfair everything was and how Lena would have been performing skits and telling stories and doing something in the waiting room besides letting the waiting drive everyone crazy), but he wasn't shaking. In a way Dinah would have been very proud of, Bert was calm.

"You guys have anything to eat?"

Kara handed him what remained of the chocolate bar and the kids distracted themselves by dividing up the rest of the food. There wasn't much talking, but she was almost grateful for that.

There was the doctor, finally.

Dinah would be fine.

Of course, Francine almost told him. Dinah's always fine. Tell me something I don't know. She settled for smiling, beaming, really, hugging Kara, glad the girl was there to grin happily even if Bert still looked like someone had hit him.

Will went to go tell the others as Francine listened to the nurse. She'd be awake soon enough, they promised. Bed rest and drugs and her parents are going to be here soon, right? Of course, Francine promised. Now how long did you say she had to stay in here?

There were two chairs, but she gave Bert the second one; it was easy enough for her to perch beside Kara. There was a tiny smile that broke her heart and then he pulled the chair beside Dinah, hovering just by her hand, not daring to touch her but looking so intently he might as well be, watching her chest rise and fall the way Dad—

She would not cry, she could not cry, she would not, could not, even if the expression on Bert's face was killing her.

Deep breathes. More waiting. Lots and lots of waiting and not looking at Bert and not looking at Dinah and reassuring Kara and trying not to scream at Will to stop pacing.

"Hey," a quiet voice asked from the door way. Like she'd been afraid of, Brian looked the way he had the day...if she hated hospitals, then Brian was going to be in agony. "How is she?"

"We're just waiting for her to wake up," Francine said as she hugged her brother. He was shaking, a little, but he was familiar and he understood why this was the worst place on earth. "She'll be fine, they say."

"Good." Brian left her, went to Dinah, pushed her hair off her face, back behind the ears like she would have liked it. Of course; Fran was an idiot for forgetting. He patted Bert on the back once, gripped the boy's shoulder, promised it would be okay.

"There's too many of us," Will said. "I'm going to head out."

"If you wanted to stay," Brian offered to be polite, but if only two werewolves could stay...well, Will insisted, so the twins walked him out.

When they were alone, Francine squeezed her brother's hand. "You okay?"

"You said she'll be fine."

"She will be."

"She has to—" Brian choked back the rest. "I don't know what I'd do without her."

"Me too."

Brian hugged her again; she hated that, nowadays, where she always felt like she was hugging a stranger when she hugged her twin brother. But Brian, her brother, her twin, her other half, wasn't this tall and he wasn't this muscular and he wasn't that warm. This person wasn't her brother—but he understood about Dinah so she hugged him and tried to remember what it had been like before (and then she tried to forget because he had clung to her in the hospital hallway once the younger boys had been taken away by Aunt Leah and she could only stand there and wonder when she was going to wake up because surely their mother couldn't—their mother wouldn't—it was obviously all just a bad dream. Right? But then why was Brian so heavy against her?).

"How are the rest of them?" she asked. She wasn't sure she should ask, but Dinah wouldn't forgive her if she didn't ask about Judy.

"Levi's got it. They haven't managed to get Judy to phase back yet, so they'll hide her until they can sneak her home."

"How's Baxter?"

"He has his hands full. But he managed to calm her down a bit."

"But how is he?"

Brian just looked confused. "He's worried about her. Judy's distraught and I...I didn't react very well to Dinah being...it'll take some time for her to get over it."

Well, obviously.

Brian continued, "How'd Bert doing?"

"He asked for food and basically hasn't said anything else. But he's..." Happy? Terrible word choice. But something like that. "He just wants to be near her, I think."

"Yeah. Listen, if you need Levi..."

"You just said he was busy."

"All you have to do is say something and he'll come."

"Why would it make me feel better to have Levi around me?"

"You know. You've seen Bert." He was disappointed. Of course. That's all she could do lately, disappoint Brian. "Francy, if you don't want to give him a chance, then I'm in your corner. You know that. I just think, if you're upset, you could at least try to see if he could maybe help."

Brian really wanted to do this now?

Of course he did. Because if they were talking about her, they weren't talking about Dinah. And while Brian had trouble when it came to doing things without someone pushing him, Brian never had a problem feeling, imagining people happier than they were. It's why they had gotten along so well, her brother and her sister, Brian's better world giving Dinah an ideal to devote her boundless energy, her will to make things happen. Together maybe they could have made everything fair.

"I think Judy needs him a lot more than I do right now."

"She has Baxter."

"I'm sure she doesn't mind having her big brother around, either."

"That's not what I meant. You just never give him a chance..."

Because she had to flirt with _Bert_ just so Levi wouldn't constantly feel her up in front of his girlfriend (at least the territorial thing had some benefits).

While she was glad she was finally friends with Will again (which possibly proved that, despite the way life beat you up and pushed you around, people really could endure anything and come out almost the same on the other side; though more likely it just proved that puberty was a bitch), they needed to get back to a place where innuendo was acceptable and fast because teasing Bert made her feel like a creep.

Though Lena would have gotten such a kick out of it; she wanted so badly to see her brother happy with people. And she would have loved teasing Fran about it.

"If I gave Levi half a chance he'd see it as an invitation to take over my whole life."

"Francy..." And Brian was trying, she wasn't unaware that he was trying, but at some point she had stopped thinking trying was enough. "That's not fair to him."

Maybe it wasn't, but she didn't understand why it was fair that she had to figure out reasons where 'no' was an acceptable response instead of having him come up with ideas for why 'yes' was the right choice.

"No," she agreed to be fair. "It's not."

Levi maybe have had wandering hands (and eyes, and probably a wandering brain, too) but he didn't push her. She'd always thought it a little obnoxious how he just expected girls to come to him, but now she found his self-confidence a little less annoying. He'd figured it out, a long time ago. He wanted to be with someone who wanted to be with him. When Francine was around Levi she sometimes got annoyed by the blatant flirting and staring, but she never felt like he was pressuring her to do anything she didn't want to. He was just doing his thing; she was welcome to do her own. She could almost picture him smirking at her, saying, "But if you wanna fool around later, we could do that, too." And whatever her answer, he'd go out and have fun (with or without her). He was eager to help and he wasn't shy in admitting it, but he didn't take over your life without a full invitation.

"What's this really about? Are you..." Brian took a deep breath and with some alarm Francine realized he must have been working up to this for a while. "Are you really that afraid to be like Mom?"

"What? No."

No, no, no. He was all wrong—and the worst part was that she didn't even think he had come up with that himself. Brian didn't know, didn't want to know, and that's where they stood now. Just not getting each other.

It wasn't her mother she was afraid of becoming.

There were elements of her mother's life she resented. They were Sam's family around the rez, but her mother didn't mind so Fran wasn't going to resent it for her. She didn't even really mind that her mother hadn't bothered to pretend to teach the boys how to cook (though Brian was better at chemistry) or how Brian could go out with his friends while she had to stay in and watch her brothers (Dinah once asked her if she liked it and she'd said yes, of course she loved her brothers, but that didn't change the fact that the second she could Francine was never going to be around another child for the rest of her damn life).

She did resent that she had become so good at it that she could do it without thinking. At school, she had fallen into the old patterns almost accidentally, playing at being Mrs. Dr. to stressed out med students who enjoyed the cooking and the sex (they're taking advantage of you, Dinah said, as if they hadn't begged her to tell them something, anything, please, baby, talk to me. If she was using them back, then it really wasn't so bad, right?).

She resented it, but it didn't scare her.

There were ways of fighting back. It should have been Brian, it was always supposed to be Brian, but when it came down to it, when she had the choice, she'd let the crocodile tears come and her brother had let her have her way. She went to Seattle instead. She'd learned that she would fight back, anyway she had to, because she was tired of waiting around and hoping the men in her life would come through. Her mother's life wasn't going to be hers.

Becoming like her father...now that terrified her. She didn't resent it, but it scared her (the way Timmy wouldn't sleep in his room unless the door was opened for years, convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt, deep in his heart where no reassurance or logic could reach, that if the door was shut the room, and all the little boys in it, would be sucked away to a Bad Place where people were mean to you and you never got any muffins).

She'd seen what it had done to her father. He loved her, he loved her mother, he loved them all—did he want them? She wondered. He never hinted at what he would have preferred, so much like Bax in that way, saying what you needed to hear because they loved you, but keeping what they really thought so close to the chest because they didn't want to burden you. He'd had their mother and that was enough.

That was _everything_.

It was the look in her father's eyes as they drove home from the hospital the last time, that look on his face when he'd opened the door to their house (the house she wasn't coming back to) that gave Francine nightmares. Because he'd been lost, no, he'd forgotten there was even a place to go. He was sitting in the middle of a maze and not moving because even breathing reminded him she wasn't there. She wasn't there and suddenly nothing would have been enough.

Why would anyone want that?

She didn't know what she wanted half the time, but she didn't have much time to figure it out, either. She just knew what she couldn't do—she couldn't risk having nothing but Levi.

"Why in the world would you think that?" she demanded of her twin.

"Levi wouldn't make you do anything you didn't want." Brian frowned, just a little. "Unfortunately, I know he kind of likes girls who boss him around."

She couldn't help grinning at Brian's obvious discomfort, just a little.

"I think that Levi has more important responsibilities right now than worrying about me," she said. "We'll be friends eventually. I promise. Just right now isn't the best time. I don't think Kara would like it very much."

"She'd never say anything like that."

She didn't have to; Francine could take a hint.

"Well, right now I need to go see Dinah and Levi needs to stay with his little sister so..."

"I'm sorry I keep bringing it up."

"Well, he is your friend."

"I just want to see you happy," Brian corrected her gently. Oh, he didn't understand her at all but he did still love her and she loved him so much for that she hugged him again, even if he did feel like a stranger.

"Thank you. But I'll be happy only when we get out of here."

"You're telling me," he muttered. "I hate this place."

The others were still waiting, so the twins settled down to wait, too.

The werewolves noticed first; it was incredible, but they all froze so completely in place for a second she thought she'd lost it—the world had frozen on her. But they were looking at Dinah and she understood quickly enough. Her breathing was different, her eyes seemed to twitch and then...

Dinah was waking up.

Dark eyes stared but didn't seem to see. Her lips parted, half a breath came out. Then: "...Ann?"

Bert shifted ever so slightly, giving Francine room to come to Dinah's side. Brian was on the other, already holding her hand. Kara went to get a nurse as Dinah's eyes started to focus. She turned to Brian.

"You just got out of surgery, darling," Brian said, thumb brushing over her fingers. "The doctors had to stich you up, but they say you're going to be fine."

"Wahdder."

"The nurse will be here in a second. They'll take care of you. You keep your strength up."

"Judy?" Dinah's voice was weak, unsure, but it was definitely a demand.

"Our brothers are with her," Francine explained. "Your parents will be here soon. Everything's taken care of, I promise."

"Good," Dinah said as she lay back and closed her eyes. The Uley twins backed away from the bed as a nurse came in to check on Dinah. Everything was fine. Everything was fine. Nothing terrible was going to happen here. Still, Francine didn't start breathing easily until the nurse had left.

"Hey, tiger," Dinah murmured to Bert, still on his chair, "You been there the whole time?"

"I had to pee twice."

"Is that your way of saying you left twice or that I shouldn't drink out of the cups?"

The boy blushed. "I can move."

"I can't," Dinah said with a sigh. "You're good at hovering."

"All part of the stalker skill set."

Dinah grinned then— "Okay, so no one gets to make me laugh."

"You want me to call the nurse back?" Brian offered.

"He was prod-y."

"Did you listen to anything he said?"

"No. You're going to repeat it back to me so many times there's no point."

"Dinah."

Dinah lay back and closed her eyes. "I feel like someone punched me in the stomach."

"That's not funny," Brian said.

"Yeah, remind me not to pick a fight with a werewolf ever again." Dinah opened her eyes and glanced at Bert. "So, could you go get my sister?"

"That's a really bad idea," Brian said. "She hasn't been able to phase back, yet."

Thankfully, the combination of anesthesia and exhaustion meant that Dinah decided against hauling herself out of bed to hunt down her sister. Still. It was probably a close call.

"We probably shouldn't stay," Brian announced a few minutes later.

"Or not," Dinah said, though Francine would not have pointed out the way she grabbed onto Bert's wrist for anything.

"We're pretty stressed," Brian argued. "We can't...it's too risky. There's too many people around here. We just had a pretty big reminder of how much we've been overestimating our self-control."

"Can't Levi just order you guys not to psycho on people?" Dinah said with a huff.

"We wouldn't really be uncontrollable monsters if we were controllable," Bert mused.

Brian just sighed. "It doesn't work like that, Di. Even Levi can't order us not to phase. We have orders to leave when we get too mad but...by the time you realize you need to leave, you might not have the time."

"You should maybe work on that," Dinah pointed out.

"You better believe we will."

"Oh, hey," Dinah called, stopping the boys in the door. "Tell Baxter I didn't really mean it. And Levi. Tell Levi I was exaggerating. Tell Will I meant it, but, well, he knows. And try not to take what I said about you guys personally."

"Is there anyone you didn't insult?" Brian asked.

"Judy," Dinah offered. "Tell her I said hi, okay?"

After Brian had promised and the boys had left, Dinah scared Kara away to the washroom with a glance. Francine rolled her eyes and pointed out, "She's kind of been through a lot today because of you."

"Remind me to thank her for that," Dinah said. "So, I feel like shit. Sorry about the whole hospital thing."

"It's not like I could just stick a bandaid on you."

It was a shame Judy had managed to scratch through to the stomach. It would take longer to heal and Dinah was going to be a lousy patient.

"Yeah. Judy's going to be a mess."

"You're kind of a mess right now," Francine pointed out.

"I'll be fine," Dinah said with a wave of her hand. "Though next time I'm being unbearable, stop glaring at me and just tell me before I end up against the clawed end of a werewolf."

"I like my head unbitten, thank you very much."

"I think I might be jealous," Dinah said quietly. "Though I _will_ bite you if you repeat that."

"Of what?"

"The superpowers. Getting to belong to the secret clubhouse. I don't know. My sister's inability to stop gushing about her stupid boyfriend."

"Her very smart, wonderful boyfriend," Francine corrected. "Who you like, Di."

"I know. I just...I can't have her get hurt, you know?"

"You're the only one allowed to get hurt?"

It was rhetorical. Dinah believed in her own indestructibility as much as anyone; it's why she had managed to convince so many people of it over the years.

"Pretty much."

"Dinah," Francine said as she sat down and took her friend's hand, "I love you, but you scare me like that again and I will leave you to bleed out."

"No, you wouldn't," Dinah said, squeezing back.

"No, I wouldn't," Francine agreed.

"So, how soon do you think it'll be before I can see Judy?"

"I don't know. Soon," she promised. "When she's not..."

"I was just worried about her." Dinah cursed. "And look what I did."

"You're not blaming yourself, are you?"

Dinah rolled her eyes. It didn't seem right to blame the woman in the hospital bed; at least Dinah agreed.

"No. But if Judy thinks she gets to blame herself, she's in for a rude awakening."

They would be okay, the Black sisters, Francine realized. Because Dinah had decided and when Dinah wanted something, well. Dinah was a bit of a pain when she didn't know what she wanted but when she wanted it...

Dinah got it.


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: Sorry this took so long! Life. I've got two-three more chapters for _Strawberry Ice Cream_ and a general direction for this story but it's going to take me some time. I will finish both. Promise.

Edited To Add: Um, edited? Version 2.0. Still reads like character sketches thrown together, but hopefully it flows a bit better. I don't have the time for a more extensive re-write.

* * *

><p>Dinah Black did not expect people to entertain her. She could entertain herself. Only she'd read the only book she was interested in reading, Levi's room didn't come equipped with a TV and her computer had been taken by someone yesterday and—not that she couldn't get up and search for it herself—she preferred sitting just then.<p>

Thankfully, her siblings eventually came home from school. Levi burst through the door without knocking; no matter how tall he got he was still an obnoxious kid about most things.

"You look like shit," he announced before he dropped down on the bed, jostling the mattress. There was some slight discomfort, but Dinah had a bigger problem with the way her little brother was watching her thoughtfully.

"I'm _fine_," she snapped.

"I didn't ask," he said lightly, snatching the magazine out of her hand. "Boring."

Dinah knew.

From the door a quieter voice asked, "Are you sure you're fine?" Judy wasn't going to believe it, but Dinah still tried.

"I'm fine. Get in here already." She patted the bed. There wasn't much room, since Levi was gigantic (and a hog) but Judy didn't even _try,_ just pulled a chair to the foot of the bed and sat there.

"I don't bite."

"She does," Levi said. "But it's okay. She's had all her shots."

"Are you sure you're o—"

"I'm _fine_." It came out much harsher than she intended it to; Dinah blamed the pain pills. Pushing down all the _feelings_ that the drugs were messing up, she continued more cheerfully, "How was school?"

"It was okay. Baxter came today."

It was said for Levi's benefit, but Dinah was glad to hear it. He'd missed as much school as he should. She'd hate for the stupid accident to do more damage.

"You okay?" Levi asked.

"Fine," Judy said. But as usual, nowadays, she looked like she was going to cry.

Dinah turned to Levi (anything to not watch that). "Kara talking to you yet?"

Her brother's face darkened. "I think Kim might have broken up with me for her the other day. Whatever."

It wasn't whatever; Levi might not like talking about his feelings, but he didn't bother hiding them, either. Neither of them had time to deal with that because Judy started making these _noises_ at the end of the bed.

"I'm so sorry," she said, sniffling. "I—"

"Oh, please," Dinah interrupted. "If any sister is getting credit for scaring off Kara, it should be me."

"Plus, she'll come around," Levi said. He didn't sound as cocky as he normally did, but he was probably right.

Thankfully, Baxter and Bert had finally arrived. Unfortunately, right after they said hello, Bert said to Judy:

"You ready for patrol?"

"I think you can handle it by yourself," Levi said after Judy turned her panicked face in his direction.

"Okay," Bert said.

But it wasn't. It was a relief when Baxter announced he was taking her for a walk instead.

Fix her, she wanted to demand of Levi. But it wasn't his fault their little sister looked like someone had hit her in the stomach.

"She's getting better, right?" she said instead.

"I guess. She's starting to notice Baxter's...but at least she's noticing stuff."

"Baxter's what?"

"Kid's fine," Levi said. "Right, Bert?"

Bert shrugged.

"That was convincing," Dinah said.

Levi looked like he wanted to throw the pillow back at her—there were some benefits to being stuck in bed. He turned to Bert instead. "You've talked to him lately, right?"

Bert shrugged again—he had, but it wasn't Levi's business so Levi wasn't getting an answer unless he could prove he was asking for a good reason.

"How's he doing?"

"He's got Brian," Bert said finally. "He'll get there."

"What does that mean?" she demanded.

Levi smiled, easily. "It means I'm right. Baxter's fine. Hey, kid, since you're standing, you want to grab Di's computer in the other room?"

Bert dutifully played fetch. Since he returned her property to her and had worn a shirt, Dinah allowed him to pull up a chair. She even let him keep holding onto the computer, telling him, "I'm bored. I need some more."

She didn't need the whole mystical bond to notice that he looked far too happy listening to her speak, considering she was _three_ years older than him and, you know, in _college_ and just far, far too old for him. The mystical bond might be why she didn't hit him, despite the small smile that threatened to appear on his face. That, or Bert kept his eyes on the screen, typing away.

"You turning into a geek now?" Levi said, unable to grasp that other people had different tastes than he did.

"Levi, I'm not the one who's going to be living in our parents' basement forever." Well, if they had a basement.

"Hey. Patrols mean you aren't being torn apart by vampires."

"Too bad you don't get paid for that."

"This is why someone tried to rip out your spleen. Lay off."

"Get a job."

"Get a life."

Bert snorted, though by the time she glance over, his face was serene (the siblings knew what they had heard, regardless). "Nobody asked you," Levi muttered.

"I will," Dinah decided. "Bert, don't you think it's time my brother figured out what he's going to do with his life? Something besides killing things."

"But I'm so good at it," Levi threatened her. She stuck out her tongue; he raised the pillow, promising her death by feathers.

"You should be a cop."

The two Black siblings glanced at Bert, who still hadn't looked up from the screen.

"What?" Levi asked stupidly.

"A police officer," Dinah said (he couldn't hit her if she was already injured).

"Shut up."

Bert ignored their sniping. "I think it would be a good idea. You like protecting people; you like hunting people down; you'd get to walk around with a gun." His nose wrinkled. "You'd get free handcuffs."

Dinah did _not_ like the look that sometimes came over Levi's face now. He was her little brother; she hated seeing him hurt.

"That doesn't totally suck," she said. Levi wasn't saying anything at all. Maybe he was thinking—weirder things had happened.

"Thanks," Bert said. He was _very _frustrating that way; it was impossible to tell his sarcastic voice from his regular voice. Dinah already sucked at figuring people out. The kid was beyond her. "I'm done with this. They're all in your downloads folder."

"Way to go, tiger."

Maybe it was catching. Dinah wasn't sure if it was her sarcastic voice that came out or not. She did not like not knowing.

"See you," Bert said as he got up to leave.

"Hold up," Levi said, standing and motioning for the kid to wait. "I'll go with you for the first bit. Then I have to go meet Brian, so he can explain to me again why I have to keep giving Kara space."

"Because she's freaked out and you hovering is just going to make it worse," Dinah called.

Levi flipped her off as he left. Once he was gone, Dinah grabbed the computer to see who the Punisher was going after this time.

* * *

><p>"How are you doing?" Brian asked when he came over the next day. With anyone else, she would have been annoyed that her life revolved around whoever walked through her brother's bedroom door. But it was Brian, so Dinah just smiled. "Like you're going to stab the next person who asks you that?"<p>

"I was thinking disembowelment, but you were close," she admitted.

"You want me to put up warning signs?"

"I want to stop looking like shit."

"You look fine," he said as he pulled the chair right beside her, resting his legs on the bed. She hated how it still felt _right_, hearing him say that.

"What's wrong with your brother?" she asked instead.

"Di, maybe...it's not easy, seeing what happened to Mom happen to you. But he's...he's fine."

"You're a shitty liar." She'd just have to ask Judy—Judy would be honest with her. Unlike everyone else. "You okay?"

"I'm good. Ready to help," he reminded her gently.

"You don't have to."

"Do you not want me to?" Have a little more confidence, she wanted to order him. She needed him. He just didn't get it and now it didn't matter.

"Only if you have the time."

"I'm off work the rest of the day. Now, where are your books?"

Most of her professors had been understanding—getting attacked by a wild dog was apparently a good excuse for getting out of exams. Some had wanted a paper to make up for it. It helped when Brian asked the questions, the way he had in high school; it organized her thoughts.

She missed this, them just hanging around together, teasing and joking. Whoever invented long-distance should be shot.

"I have to get going soon," he said eventually. "I've got to get dinner on."

"Can't your Dad do it?"

"He's not much of a cook." His eyes were flashing; angry was a look she _hated_ on him. Dinah had been known to, on occasion, fight battles she knew she couldn't win, but she was learning that if she wanted to keep Brian in her life—and of course she wanted to keep Brian; who wouldn't want to keep Brian?—then she was going to have to not talk about Sam.

"Okay."

That didn't mean she didn't have _a lot_ of things she wanted to say.

When Dinah was fourteen, maybe fifteen, she'd had a horrible, terrible, no good crush on Brian's father. It was not her fault. The man could have passed for Brian's older brother (Sam could still pass for Brian's older brother, maybe even his younger brother now) and he was built like...well, like all the guys around town were. But he was gentler than almost all of them, quieter but with a sort of intensity that...well, Dinah had squashed the feelings as quickly as she could because, ew. Even before she'd known he'd dated her mother he was married to her Aunt Emily.

Sam had been wonderful the whole time.

If you were going to have totally inappropriate crushes on old people, Dinah would have recommended Sam in a heartbeat. Maybe her anger nowadays was tinged with a bit of disappointment. He'd been so wonderful then. What happened? Why couldn't he go on being wonderful?

But he hadn't.

Sam had hurt Brian a hell of a lot more than he hurt her, but Brian wouldn't—maybe couldn't—ever say that. Dinah had tried to say it for him (it had worked for them for years). It had stopped working. _They_ had stopped working.

The worst part was that it might not even have been Sam's fault.

"I can't wait until Francy gets back," Brian said.

"When is she coming back?"

It was about time (and possibly only because Levi had made sure she did come home this summer; no one could resist Levi when he started being annoying).

"Next week. Her last exam is Wednesday. She's going to stay the Thursday night, go out with friends, celebrate. She'll be home by Friday."

Dinah suspected that if Judy hadn't gotten a little overenthusiastic with the claws, if Francy hadn't felt guilty about leaving the sisters alone Brian wouldn't be seeing his sister. She didn't say that to Brian; he probably knew. She did make a mental note to talk with Francy, though.

"Hopefully, she won't kiss any underage guys this time."

Brian frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing."

Because otherwise it might sound...it wasn't as if she cared who the kid kissed. He was free to kiss as many (or as few) girls, boys or dogs as he felt comfortable with kissing. She just didn't like the idea of her best friend taking advantage of teenage boys who only looked like they were old enough to handle it.

"You're a shitty liar," Brian said with a smile. "What did my sister do now?"

"Nothing." After all this time, she couldn't help telling Brian everything. "I just think she's a little too old to be kissing Bert. That's all."

Brian just looked confused. "When did she do that?"

"I don't know. She doesn't tell me anything anymore."

"Did Bert tell you this?"

"She did. Remember? She said...well, it wasn't you or Baxter, Levi would have bragged—hell, Judy would have blabbed and she said Will didn't count so...yeah."

"Oh."

"Oh?"

"Just...I wondered what that was about. That's all." He was such a shitty liar.

"_Brian_. What do you know that I don't?"

"Dinah, don't get upset."

"I'm not upset." Okay, that came out too loud. It was the drugs. "I just...is there something _more_ going on?"

"Di..." Brian looked a little _too_ understanding just then. "No. No, it's just...okay, I'm only saying this because this can't be good for your recovery. But Francy never kissed Bert." Brian hesitated while Dinah was…not relieved, or anything, but something. "You probably shouldn't have called Marlena a whore."

"_Implied_."

"Just because it was a mistake doesn't mean she made me do it. She was just trying to cheer me up."

"Just because I was dating someone else—"

"It sucked for me and she was just being nice," Brian interrupted. He never used to do that. He seemed more surprised than she was. "Sorry, I just..."

"What does this have to do with Bert?"

"It doesn't. It never did," Brian said slowly. "How do you not know...it was Will."

"Will I what?" Okay, so she realized as the words left her mouth how stupid they made her sound. She didn't need the incredulous expression on Brian's face, the one that said he was talking to someone who had just managed to be dumber than a small child. "_Seriously_?"

"And that would be why she didn't tell you," Brian muttered. "Could you please stop looking at me like that?"

"When did this happen?"

"Honestly, I think Will decided it didn't, so it ceased to exist from history or something." Brian sighed when she glared. "When I had strep that one time. We were...what? Twelve? Thirteen?"

"Twelve." She and Francy had walked over to Forks on a hunt for jello for Brian. Their mothers had been unimpressed. "So she's had almost ten years to mention it to me?"

"More like sev—"

"I don't care about the _math_, Brian."

"Dinah, it's not your business. I think the fact you didn't want her to be talking about Bert is the real issue here."

Brian obviously didn't know _anything_.

"_My _cousin. _My _business. She should have said something."

"She talk to you about that stuff? Especially then?"

Well, no. Dinah didn't really care to know where Francy's tongue had been. And Francy had other friends for the boring stuff. Dinah was there for the important stuff, not...and sure, she would have overreacted—they were not supposed to _ever_ encourage her cousin's idiocy. That rule had been in place for a long, long time—but that didn't mean she shouldn't have been told.

"Dinah? You...is everything okay with you and my sister?"

They'd gotten into a stupid fight over Dinah's stupid lab partner. They got into stupid fights about everything lately.

"I dumped her twin brother. No, everything is not okay with us."

"Twice," Brian muttered. Then: "I can't believe she's holding that against you."

"She loves you, dumbass."

"She was really worried when you got hurt."

"Just because she doesn't want me dead doesn't mean...you talk to her lately?"

"We've been talking a lot more since you...It's starting to feel sort of normal between us again. Sort of."

"It's different on the phone."

"Yeah. It's...easier in some ways. Harder, too."

"Yeah." She'd said a lot of things to Brian in the past year. A lot of things. Most she wasn't proud of. Some of them she'd only said because _someone_ had to tell him. But she hadn't said...she didn't say. It just wasn't her. But...it just sort of spilled out. "You know I'm sorry, right?"

She wasn't sure she could have explained if he'd asked what for, but all Brian did was smile a sad sort of smile that made her want to cry. She blamed the drugs.

"I'm sorry, too."

Just hearing him say that helped. Too much. She blamed the drugs for that too.

* * *

><p>When Judy came home, Dinah made sure Levi escorted their sister for a visit. Judy pulled the chair all the way to the end of the room.<p>

"I never said I was sorry," Dinah began. Saying it to Brian had helped more than she had ever expected—so she was going to try with Judy, too. Judy cried out, but sat silently when Dinah raised her hand. "I was in a bad mood and I provoked you."

"That's no excuse," Judy whimpered. "It's not...Baxter..."

"I didn't mean any of that stuff I said about him, either. I just...I worry about you. But I know he's a good guy."

"He's the best," Judy bleated. "I'm so, so sorry, Di."

"I'm only accepting that apology if it comes with a hug."

"It's not safe."

"You even a little bit mad right now?"

"We always a little bit mad," Levi explained quietly. But he didn't look upset. He thought it was a good idea. Levi had always understood words didn't mean shit if you couldn't back them up. She'd been able to believe in her parents anyway; he couldn't. She hadn't entirely blamed him for that back then; she had understood a bit (she would be loyal, anyway, but she understood why it was hard for her brother when what they said and what they did never seemed to add up).

"We can keep it short," Dinah promised. "And Levi can watch, if you want. Come on. Please, Jubes?"

Levi had explained that they hadn't watched over Judy the way they should have. Now they knew to be careful so everything should be fine.

It took Judy a long time, but eventually she nodded. It was bizarre, having to have Levi watching, but if that's what it took to get Judy within two feet of her, Dinah would take it. Her sister's warm arms snuck around her neck and Dinah rested her chin on Judy's shoulder.

"Apology accepted," Dinah whispered into her sister's hair.

Judy pulled away, shaking, but there was almost a smile on her face.

* * *

><p>Locked in Levi's room, Dinah missed the conversation between her brother and her sister after dinner. She was talking to her parents, who fidgeted more than she did at just the thought of being stuck in bed. None of them had super ears so they didn't hear Baxter come over—though the whole neighbourhood must have heard the way Baxter slammed the door on his way out.<p>

Dinah jumped—she did not jar her side, she just needed a second to calm her racing heartbeat. The door was super loud.

Her father took off to investigate. When he didn't come back—when they heard Levi take off after Baxter instead of staying with a crying Judy—Leah went to investigate herself. Eventually her mother came back, standing in the doorway, confused.

"Are we inviting her to join the club?" Dinah asked when her mother just _stood_ there. The joke was weak—she _really_ hoped Judy couldn't join the club.

"Technically, she dumped him," her mother said quietly, trying to soften the blow. "At least we don't have to worry she'll ever stay with someone who doesn't really appreciate her. She's too sensitive. She could tell he was...he wanted an out. She gave it to him."

"I'm going to kill him," Dinah decided.

"Maybe you should just talk to your sister first. I think she could use her big sister right now."

So Dinah let her mother help up and to the other room, even if she was pretty terrible when it came to the big sister stuff. She could be there, she made sure she was _always_ there, but Judy seemed to feel everything, Judy jumped from happy to sad to happy faster than Dinah could blink, and Dinah had never been able to understand it, let alone help.

Judy was curled up on her side, facing the wall. She wasn't crying anymore—their Dad had seen to that. Jacob looked pretty close to tears himself, so he let Dinah settle on the bed and left with his wife. It would have been funny how they thought Dinah had some strange sort of sister power, if Dinah wasn't wishing for exactly that just then.

"Hey, kiddo. How are you doing?"

Judy just tightened her arms around the teddy bear in her arms. For all that she complained about Bert, Dinah sometimes forgot her sister was even younger than all that. Even though she cheeks weren't quite as round and pinchable as they used to be, Dinah gave the tearstained cheek a kiss.

"Grunt if you're okay."

Judy didn't move.

"Please? Something? Anything?"

"I said I'd do anything if you were okay. I meant it. I...I would have given anything. I just—" Judy choked on the words. "Why did it have to be him?"

"Judy, you know I don't want—

Judy finally turned around; she looked worse than Dinah had imagined. "It's not—it's all my fault. I made it so he can't love me anymore."

"Judy, if he can't love you, he's an idiot."

"Don't say that! He's not. He's just—he doesn't love me. He can't."

And Judy clutched her teddy bear tighter (Dinah was getting old—there was a time when she would have known every stuffed animal her sister owned. Now, while she knew the stupid thing was familiar, she couldn't place it; she just knew it was doing a better job of comforting her sister).

"Judy, just because you had a fight..."

"He doesn't love me enough for a fight. Di, what do I do without him?"

"You start by getting out of bed. Maybe have some ice cream—"

Judy didn't make any noise; she was all cried out, at least. Instead, she just sort of lay back and gave up.

"Judy, I just meant—"

"I just miss him," Judy said, curling back up in a ball around the teddy bear. "It feels so bad, Di. It's like I can't breathe. I can't—I can't."

"It stops. I promise. Remember when Dan dumped you and you felt this way?"

It was the wrong thing to say; even Dinah knew that, though it was only after the words were out of her mouth that she realized it. They were just sitting there in silence when Levi came in from patrol to help carry her back to his room.

"This is _my_ room," Dinah pointed out. But it was no use. They wanted her comfortable, so she got a room to herself.

"So how are we going to kill him?" Dinah asked as Levi gently carried her.

Her brother looked uncharacteristically serious. "Let them be, Di."

"What? Can't you hear our sister bawling her little heart out? We need to do something. Preferably permanent."

"Di, he's..." Levi scowled. "I don't like listening to her anymore than you do. It kills me just as much. But I can read the kid's mind and I promise that if there was any way for him to be here right now he would. He's doing his best, Di. I can't—I won't go after him for that."

"She's miserable."

"She fucked up. I did, too," he admitted quietly. "I tested Bert and Baxter; I let Will lock himself away. But we all know that I didn't test Brian nearly enough. It should have been a warning. Instead...so I fucked up. And I have to live with that. And she does too."

"Get out," Dinah ordered. If Levi wouldn't help...well, Levi hadn't become a delinquent loser all by himself.

* * *

><p>"Baxter broke Judy's heart," she told Will over the phone. He refused to visit, but the phone was good enough. "She won't stop crying. Only Levi won't let me kill him."<p>

"He's in charge," their cousin said. "He has to protect Baxter just as much as Judy."

"She's his sister."

"He can't let that matter." Will wasn't the sort of person to place undo emphasis on his words; he was the sort of person who picked his words very carefully (and then got angry with you for not understanding all the double negatives and triple meanings and whatever the fuck he wasn't saying underneath it). Dinah understood he meant _Levi _couldn't let that matter.

"She won't stop crying," Dinah repeated. It was all she needed to say.

It drove her nuts—and maybe she shouldn't say so quite as often, but it really did make her crazy. Her whole life, the only thing she was better at than Will was growing (she never let him forget it). He didn't have half of Levi's charm, but thankfully, no one did. Will could make even having the likability of a compost bin not matter. He accomplished _everything_ he set his mind to. That is, he accomplished everything he didn't sabotage himself. If he would just control his temper—only he _wouldn't._

It only took him ten seconds to decide how he was going to get back at Baxter.

"They catch you bringing a gun to school, they have to expel you. It would be easy enough to plant."

Of course, Will was his own complication.

"I don't want to ruin the kid's life," Dinah said. "Just make him cry a lot."

"Is Judy heartbroken or not?" Will asked calmly. "It won't be cheap but it's not that hard—"

"Don't be stupid," she snapped. "I'll think of something else. Myself."

"You're not any fun."

And because Dinah had no idea if he was being sarcastic or not, she hung up.

"Your father is now insisting we shouldn't have stopped phasing until you kids were married," her mother said as she came in. She'd taken over Judy duties when Dinah had failed miserably—now that Bert had shown up she was apparently taking a break.

"You're already going to be the hottest grandmother around." Not that it gave a girl issues, having her mother look like she stepped off a movie poster—_Girls Gone Wild 4 Real—_but, still. They had to draw the line somewhere.

"I think your dad would run to Canada on two legs if you started talking about grandkids."

"You kind of married a baby," Dinah pointed out.

"Hey." Her mother grinned. "We can't all be plotting destruction."

"I am not—okay. But he deserves it," Dinah said as she settled her head on her mom's shoulder. "You can say it. If you're going to say it, you should probably say it to me."

"Say what?" her mother said with a frown.

"I told you so."

"I wanted to be wrong," her mother said. "You don't know how badly I wanted to be wrong. This is going to...it'll be hard for her to get over him."

"You think she thought she was going to marry him?"

"And have twelve kids. She told me. She wanted ten, but he talked her up to a dozen." Her mother shook her head. "They were too serious."

"Cough. You and dad. Cough."

"I thought I trained you in the ways of the fake cough much better than that," her mother said, trying to avoid answering. "Well, everything worked out for me. It'll work out for you. It'll work out for her, too."

The last part wasn't very convincing.

"She always gets too attached," Dinah said. She could still remember the first time she had seen them together, Judy constantly turning around to look at him, clinging to his arm, desperate not to let go. She'd almost said something then. Maybe she should have.

But Baxter had always been Dinah's favourite. "Shouldn't Brian be your favourite?" Francy had asked one time, a long time ago. "I love Brian best," Dinah had explained, "Obviously. He's the only one of your brothers I want to—uh. Yeah. But Baxter's my favourite. Brian can be _your_ favourite." But Francine had lied and said no, Tommy was her favourite, then. _That _made no sense because while Tommy was like all the Uleys where you liked them immediately (maybe not Baxter—Baxter you respected immediately and liked afterwards and that was probably why he was Dinah's favourite), he was the Uley you ended up forgetting, too. Francy was the girl, Brian was the brain and Baxter was the athlete; Arthur had his music and Timmy didn't even need an instrument, just his voice—Tommy was just there. Francy was weird like that. But she usually got people a lot better than Dinah ever did, so if Francy thought Baxter and Dinah's hyper little sister made sense, then Dinah would trust her.

If she trusted anybody not to break her little sister's heart, it would have been her favourite Uley.

So, apparently Dinah was an idiot.

"Maybe," her mother said. "But you have to risk it, sometimes. It's worth the risk. Worth taking on an imprint for."

"She still defends imprinting, you know. I don't—I really don't get how she does that."

Not when their mother still flinched every time she said the i-word.

"Well," her mother said, "You're not...it's not quite as bad as you make it out to be sometimes."

"My ex-boyfriend is in love with a thirteen year old." A skanky thirteen year old. "It's not as bad as I think?"

"It makes people happy."

"So does prozac."

Her mother snorted. "Please don't make me have to defend imprinting. I'm not sure the world could handle the irony."

"How does Judy defend it?"

"Judy likes seeing her boys happy. She just wants you to give her friend a chance."

And it wasn't the first time—and it probably wouldn't be the last—that Dinah blamed Alec. Because if relatives were off limits, there would be no way Judy would consider her sister might date her friend. Relatives should have been off-limits.

"Not even Judy's that delusional."

"I'm not in any way saying you need to do something you don't want."

Her parents had always been adamant on that—do what you want. Only what you want. She might have been able to keep Alec around, otherwise, but she still thought her parents were right.

"But," Dinah prompted.

"But I would hate to be responsible for having you end up alone with your principles."

If that's how she ended up—and she wasn't twenty yet, so she kind of had plenty of time before she ended up anywhere, thank you very much—but if she did end up with nothing left to show for her existence except a life lived according to how it should be, well, Dinah didn't really see anything wrong with that.

"What are you saying?"

"Just that all imprints aren't all bad." Her mother made a face, because saying that much crap at the same time was hard, and then added: "As long as you don't let them near your brother."

Dinah wrinkled her nose because Levi _would_ be stupid enough to hook up with Ginger. Or, well, Levi before Kara would have. Levi obsessing over Marlena Call while doing unspeakable things with whoever he could because thankfully Will decided incest was where he'd finally man up and, you know, tell Levi _no—_that Levi might have done something stupid. The new super tall, almost responsible Levi...who knew what he would do?

"You ever sorry no one imprinted on you?"

Her mother laughed. "I know everyone says I'm the jealous, possessive one but if someone had imprinted on me your father would have killed him."

"What? We exist surrounded by double standards?"

And men who couldn't help themselves.

"If it makes you feel better, I might have killed Nessie if she hadn't been two at the time. Also, I did run her out of town."

There was a knock on the door and Bert stuck his head in. "Judy's asleep. She didn't eat anything else."

Dinah would give the imprinting fairy this—at least she had gotten a good one. Sure, he was a little odd and morbid sometimes, but he was kind of sweet. So when her mom left the room, well, first Dinah rolled her eyes, but then she waved him in.

She even said, "Thanks, tiger."

Someone helping Judy should be thanked.

Bert just shrugged. "She'd do the same. She'd do more."

"Still. I'm glad not all of you wolves suck."

"Baxter's being super careful not to see any of the tourists. He doesn't want to accidentally imprint on anyone before they work this out."

"And imprinting _isn't _stupid?"

Bert shrugged again, but Dinah could tell it was different from before. Sadder, maybe.

"Just because I hate imprinting doesn't mean I hate you," she reminded him.

"Hate the sin, not the sinner?"

She'd always thought that was stupid. Nitpicking to avoid saying the way you _really _felt. It was a bad explanation. Dinah firmly believed that she did not in any way shape or form owe absolutely anything to the guy who had decided to imprint on her without her permission. But. There was a small part of her that didn't want Judy's friend to feel bad when she could...she couldn't make him feel good. She wouldn't. She just...she could maybe give him an explanation.

"Sit down, tiger."

He was as careful as a sixteen year old boy could be, which meant the bed bounced a little as he sat down beside her. He apologized (not that he needed to because she was fine).

"How old are you, Bert?"

"Sixteen."

"Do you know who else was sixteen when he imprinted?"

"Uh...technically I was fif—"

"Just answer the question."

"Quil Aterea?"

"Oh. Yeah. That's a whole other really long argument about why imprinting sucks." They would be here all day, she realized. She'd help him out. "I was talking about my uncle."

"I thought Seth was a little older."

"The other uncle."

"Oh."

It was maddeningly neutral. Oh. What the hell did that mean?

"I know I give him a hard time sometimes—" Okay, so she hadn't spoken to her Uncle Paul since Thanksgiving (she didn't like Sam making excuses for him; she _hated_ that excuses were needed in the first place) "—but the thing is, my aunt should have known better. Sure, he was the one declaring his undying love, but he was also _sixteen_. She shouldn't have just gone along with what he said."

"I don't remember declaring my undying love to anyone," Bert said eventually. "You'd think that would be something I remember. It sounds like an important moment in a guy's life."

"Don't be cute."

"You think I'm cute?"

"I think you'd be cuter if you hadn't imprinted on me." That came out funny. Whatever. Drugs. "So you don't think about me at all?"

"Dinah, you're perfect. Of course I think about you." He rolled his eyes. "But you've always been that pretty and it didn't seem to bother you before."

Because she hadn't felt weirdly light when he said in that mater-of-fact way.

"You shouldn't think I'm pretty."

"You _are_."

"Well, if you're just being shallow..." She knew guys paid her attention (she didn't want any, thank you very much, but she knew she was going to have it regardless). She also knew Bert must have spent hours working on his English papers just so they could go over them. There were easier ways to look at pretty girls. "Can't you just find a cute girl your own age?"

He snorted. It made her spidey-sense tingle; she blamed him for the fact she knew what a spidey sense was. "What? Is there a girl?"

"Krysta only likes me 'cuz of the...she didn't like me before."

A small part of her just wanted to give the guy a hug because puberty sucked enough without the mystical forces confusing you.

"I'm sure you've changed in a lot of ways since then. It might not just be the muscles."

"We don't talk. So...anyway, Marley didn't like her. Thought she was fake."

"Can't see Marley liking me much."

"She did. She thought you were wrong about most things but she liked you. She thought it was funny that everyone was scared of you."

"She was a good listener, your sister," Dinah found herself saying. "You wouldn't think it because the girl could not shut up most of the time but...she just, when she finally stopped talking for half a second, she made you feel like you could tell her anything."

There was something similar in the way Bert was silent. You could tell him anything and he'd get it. Unlike Marley, he'd probably even keep it to himself. But he was just sixteen.

"She once said she'd switch teams for you."

_Brian _would have never, ever said that to her. He definitely wouldn't have said it with a smirk and a look in his eyes that suggested she could be on any team she wanted, as long as he got to watch.

"Now that we've established you and your sister are shallow, shallow people..."

He laughed and Dinah wondered if he had someone like Brian in his life, someone you could talk to no matter what, tell things to, even when they were totally wrong. The importance of a Brian in your life could not be underestimated. She hoped he did.

"You'll go back to telling me I'm madly in love with you?"

"Shut up." Maybe she was smiling, just a little bit. "I'm just trying to look out for you."

"I get it," he promised quietly. His eyes were almost green; they had always stood out in a town of brown-eyed people. They made her a little nervous. "You're saving me from my hormones."

"I don't want you to miss out on anything," she corrected gently. She didn't usually do gentle, but she could. Sometimes.

"The girls around here think I'm weird."

"Well, you kind of are. Awesome, but weird."

"You mean it?"

"Oh, yeah. Totally. Definitely weird."

He laughed. "Thanks, kitten."

"I cannot believe I'm friends with you," she said as she rolled her eyes. She let him see the smile, though, let him know he could keep doing it.

"That's all I wanted." He clarified, "To be friends."

"That's all you want?"

The kid met her gaze easily; he wasn't scared of her. His eyes dropped to her chest a second later and then he blushed a vibrant shade of red. He should be more scared of her.

"Can we pretend that never happened?" he muttered. She thought. He had turned his head away and was talking to the wall.

"Sure thing, perv," she said, pulling him back to face her. He didn't get to pretend it never happened; he got that, because he turned around. He was still blushing, but he looked her in the eye again. Kept his eyes on her face this time.

"I'm sorry."

"I know, puppy. It's okay."

He didn't look convinced, but, sadly, Dinah realized it was true. She didn't mind.

* * *

><p>Will came around early the next morning; Levi had gone out to meet him and Dinah didn't need superhearing to know that they were plotting something stupid that was not entirely legal. That was their thing. But there was nothing she could do about it and it wasn't long before Will actually came in the house himself.<p>

"Hey, kiddo," he said to the ball that was Judy. "You look like shit."

Judy didn't glance away from the wall or stop him from ruffling her hair, but when the silence descended she did ask, in a quiet, shaky voice, "You didn't bring me candy?"

They managed not to grin—well, Judy wasn't looking at them so it was okay. Will said, "I was driving to pick some up but my car started making weird noises. I figured I should probably get you to fix it first."

"Dad can do it."

"Yeah, but then I'd have to pay him."

"Only because you're a stupidhead."

"Ouch." Will said down on the bed and leaned over Dinah's little sister. "Come on, Jubes. Don't make me beg. I just look dumb when I do. Please? Pretty please? Sugar and cherries and sprinkles on top?"

"I can't—" Judy's voice cracked. Dinah did not like the expression on Will's face. She refused to be scared of her stupid cousin—but she did think he could do _anything_ and that included a whole host of things she hoped he never thought to do.

"You have to," he said. "Levi's threatening to try fixing it."

Judy couldn't help snorting and then she said, "Ew. Gross. I think I just ate my boogers."

"Don't get your snot on my car," Will said as he pulled her up. Judy let him, but made sure to ask, "You okay, Di? Can I get you something?"

"Priorities," Willl reminded her. "My car is dying. Go save it before Levi kills it."

Judy took a deep breath and went to save the car. Dinah did call out, "I could do with a glass of water," but only because she was pretty sure that Will wouldn't let Judy delay another second. She was right—it was Will who came back with a glass (not that her throat was parched because it wasn't that hot even if the bandages did not breath at all—just, a girl should stay hydrated). Will stayed in the doorway, like he was going to bolt any second, so Dinah was quick to ask:

"What did you do to your car?"

He shrugged. "She'll fix it."

"You're not going to do anything to Baxter."

"Was she crying her eyes out or not?"

Judy was (almost) sixteen. And Judy. She cried her eyes out when dinner got overcooked (not that their father couldn't barbeque but...).

"You are not to ruin his life."

"Yes, ma'am," Will said. Dinah could tell that was sarcastic, but she had no idea if that meant he'd listen or not. She'd have to tell Levi; Levi would stop him.

Annoyed that she had bother with this now that she had decided not to, she may have called out, "And try not to make out with my friends."

It was out of the blue and he reacted accordingly, looking confused, though Will got it quickly, since his face shifted to...aw, she really did suck at people. Something.

"Brian mentioned he was still whipped."

"You're a dick." Fact. Also: "You better have apologized to her."

Dinah sucked with expressions. This was a fact. His expression didn't matter. Even when she hated her cousin (okay, when she couldn't stand everything he said and did, while being unable to make herself hate him) she knew him. He was her flesh and blood. They'd grown up together. She _knew_ him. She didn't need anyone to tell her what happened. They kissed—Will ruined it. He'd been cruel, or rude, or just careless. It was all too easy to imagine, especially him then, when they all thought Aunt Rachel really wasn't going to make it this time (and instead she'd pulled out her miracle child and Will decided that the best way to protect it was to become as terrible as possible). Dinah knew that was what happened without having to ask; Will knew she knew without having to explain.

Dinah was hard on people. Too hard, Francy sometimes said (in high school, she'd always asked, "Have you talked to your brother this week? Di, you don't get to complain about how stupid he acts if you won't talk to him"). Dinah was never going to be an Alpha wolf but she would push the people around her to be the best they could be; Francy was never going to be a wolf, but she would protect people where she could.

Silence was safety. Somehow, everyone in La Push knew that. Don't talk about the wolves. Don't talk about the stories. You were protected as long as you were quiet. Somehow that had become don't talk about the men that hurt you sometimes.

Don't talk about it.

She wasn't mad at her best friend—for not telling her about a meaningless kiss, for not telling her about the way her father was falling apart. Francy _couldn't_ have said anything. She wasn't even mad at Will—for never asking for help even though she wanted to help him so badly. She was mad at herself because she knew she believed it just as much as they did.

"Not that it's any of your business," he said. "But I have. Though now that you've ordered me to do it, I'm sure she'll appreciate it more."

Dinah wouldn't have given him a chance to apologize.

It seemed ridiculous, all of a sudden, that she was getting mad about something that had happened so long ago. A lot of her anger at her cousin seemed ridiculous just then.

He'd done stupid things._ A lot_ of stupid things. Some he could make up for, some he couldn't. But something had happened to him—maybe the wolf thing, maybe Marlena Call, maybe the withdrawal that Brian said he refused to talk about. He was still angry, but it wasn't so out of control. He was still aware of how much money he could get for her pain killers, but he was standing in the doorway instead of trying to take them. He wasn't the same as he'd been before.

She'd never given him a chance to apologize for all the stuff from before. Sometimes, she thought he was trying, but she cut him off because she didn't want to hear it. So she didn't get to.

"I'm sorry."

Will blinked.

"Excuse me?"

"You're right. It's not my business. I'm sorry for what I said to Judy, too."

He shrugged. "Hey, you stop being right about me, I'll start being offended."

Will was hard on people, too. Harder than her, maybe. Hardest on himself, she started to think.

"You're an idiot, you know. I was just mad at life that day. I'm proud of the way you don't complete suck nowadays. It's heart-warming."

Levi had turned out okay (and hadn't ended up in jail) and that wasn't because of the parents he didn't trust. And Francy didn't trust Will now because he'd apologized for hurting her feelings when they were kids, but because he'd proved to her she could trust him (Dinah didn't know _how_ he'd done it, knew things were better between them when she didn't know how Will did anything, but she knew Francy enough to know he _had_). And maybe trusting Francy about people made Dinah an idiot, but, well, it was habit at this point.

"Shut up, Di," he said as he turned to leave.

"I'm serious. I really am proud of you." Dinah sucked at expressions, but he looked just a little bit grateful. And since he was closing the door on her face... "I love you!"

"Not listening!"

"We are family!" He was gone now, so he couldn't hear her singing, but she hummed the next couple of bars to herself. It was an awesome song.

* * *

><p>That night, Levi crept into her room, well, his room, and made himself at home.<p>

"Baxter's here," he announced quietly. "I think they made up."

"I can't believe she's taking him back." But she didn't mean it—Levi understood. Of course, Judy would take him back; Dinah was glad for them. Someone needed to be that desperately happy. "Kara'll take you back, you know."

"She won't talk to me, Di. I—we scared her."

"Didn't she see you destroy a house once?"

"Will scares her anyway. And she thought I was worth it, back then."

"You are."

"I kind of took her for granted. And no, Brian didn't explain that to me. I figured it out myself. Okay, well, he explained it a bit and then I got it. I didn't—I miss her now that she's not around."

Kara was a sweet girl, but Dinah had trouble picturing her as Levi's girlfriend. The kid's heart was in the right place, but sometimes he was a little—okay, a lot—pigheaded. Sometimes he ran right over people without realizing it. You had to make him realize it. Everything was good, then. So Dinah assumed he would need a girlfriend who would _make_ him pay attention.

"Apologizing couldn't hurt," she suggested.

"Tried that."

"I'm sorry, kiddo."

"Thanks."

Maybe she'd been wrong. Maybe Levi needed a girlfriend like Kara, someone who couldn't make him do anything. Someone quiet and unassuming and just a bit sensitive—so he could learn he had to be gentle with delicate things. Maybe he was learning that right now; Dinah was sorry he had to learn it the hard way.

"I guess you were right about Baxter, too. If I'd killed him, he couldn't have come back."

"Will was joking about the revenge thing," Levi said with a grin. "You know that, right?"

"I know."

"Uh huh. He likes Baxter. And, you know, Judy would look sad."

And everyone with even the tiniest bit of heart wanted to avoid that.

"I can't wait to not hear her crying," Dinah said.

"Yeah. That really sucked. Mom still said Dad can't get her a car for her birthday, though."

"You guys can't…?"

"Afford a car? No, Di. But we'll think of something."

Levi usually did.

* * *

><p>When she walked (not hobbled, though that might be what it looked like) towards the bathroom, she found Judy and Baxter laying on the floor in front of the couch. Werewolves. They had spread the cushions out underneath them, but they were too big to fit on the furniture.<p>

Judy seemed to fit on Baxter just fine.

Still, Dinah couldn't help smiling a little bit as she watched her sister gently trace her fingers across her boyfriend's face, over his nose and cheekbones and lips. He growled and pulled Judy down to him, but his kiss was gentle. It made Judy sigh; she shifted so she could lay her head on his chest and watch the television screen. Baxter ran his fingers through her hair; Dinah wasn't sure he noticed, but his grip tightened. Judy didn't seem to mind being trapped; she glanced up at him, her feelings practically spelled out across her face, love and happiness and so much joy.

They just enjoyed being near one another.

That was what Dinah missed, despite what Francy seemed to think—not Brian or Bert (who was just a kid) even though she probably was a little fond of both of them—but she missed having someone, anyone, who she could just lie down next too and just feel. She could do anything she wanted to do by herself, but it wasn't as much fun if she couldn't brag about it afterwards.

And she missed the pecks on the cheek and a warm hand in hers and a warm body beside her. She missed fingers in her hair and hands on her body...she missed sex. She missed sex a lot.

And she missed the feeling afterwards. That feeling of being more, of not just being all alone. She missed that.

"You need a hand?"

Dinah jumped—she hadn't been caught staring because she had stopped looking at them a while ago, but it startled her just the same. Baxter just looked steadily at her, not embarrassed at being caught (why be embarrassed about being happy?), though he did look slightly worried.

"I'm fine," she snapped.

But Judy climbed off him and was by her side. "You can lean on me a bit," she promised, so Dinah did.

* * *

><p>When Francy came home, the first thing she said to Dinah was: "I hear I missed a huge crisis."<p>

Dinah answered what she hadn't asked: "They have good and bad days. But they're working at it. They're a bit scary mature."

"Good," Francy said as she lay down on the bed beside Dinah. "I always thought they were good for each other."

"Not like me and Brian."

Francy's eyebrows lifted. "You and Brian were good for each other. You just stopped being good for each other. That's all. Sometimes people change." Francy laughed. "For better and for worse."

"Why did you let me date Brian?"

"What?"

"Why'd you let me date him? Relatives were off-limits."

Francy laughed, not the slightly bitter laugh from before, but a full deep belly laugh.

"That was a real thing?"

"I only said it like a thousand times."

"You say a lot of things, Di. I always thought it was your way of trying to reassure me you weren't going to hook up with my brother. Not that you needed to," she added quickly. "As long as—"

"It was a thing," Dinah snapped instead. "And you should have brought it up when I wanted to date Brian."

For all that the twins didn't look much alike anymore, there was something very Brian in Francy's expression just then. It was like when he thought she cared who Bert slept with (she didn't). Something sympathetic and sad.

"Dinah, he really liked you," Francy said quietly. "You really liked him. You made each other happy. I didn't know you were serious about the no relatives thing. It was a dumb thing, if you were serious. My relatives are the most dateable people on the planet. Ask your sister."

"Judy wouldn't stop talking about your brother. He's even better than imprinting, she said. And then I said a lot of stuff I shouldn't have about how imprinting wasn't so great..." How Marlena and Will had never even _liked_ each other (except that one weird semester in tenth grade) and how Ginger would ruin Brian's life (because when Ginger went to jail, Brian would bail her out every time) and how Bert was being forced to turn into a stalker (maybe she was exaggerating a bit, there) and how Levi had skipped over stalking for straight up harassment (she hoped she exaggerating there)...

"I can imagine," Francy said with a sigh.

"She was angry, but she never stopped defending him. How he was always there for her to talk to, how he always listened to her. How he'd fight for her. What a gentleman he always was. How he made sure every time they were together..."

"And you explained," Francy said slowly, "That sometimes people aren't as lucky? That sometimes your first time is with someone who doesn't think about you at all? That you are so worried about her because..."

Older boyfriends sucked, sometimes. Guys sucked, sometimes. Alec sucked. Period.

"I don't like secrets," Dinah said.

But in La Push, you had to be careful about what you said. It wouldn't do to make people angry. They hadn't known why, but Emily said not to tell. She'd be terrified of what would happen if they told. Emily knew, carried the proof on her body, that bad things happened when the wolves got angry.

Who knew what an Alpha wolf would do to a boy who hurt his daughter? So he couldn't know.

"I loved you and I couldn't help you. Brian loved you and he could." Francy threaded their fingers together. "The two of you were happy. It seemed like enough at the time."

"I wanted to tell Judy," Dinah said. "All weekend I told myself I was _going_ to tell Judy." A big sister should tell her little sister the things that were important; she should tell Judy how lucky she was Baxter loved her enough to listen to her. "I tried to tell Judy and then I just—I picked a stupid fight, instead. She thinks I hate them all."

Judy didn't get angry if you insulted her. But telling her you hated her boys? Implying her boys were all monsters? It was a bad, bad idea.

"She just thinks you lost your temper."

"I don't lose my temper."

Francy may have rolled her eyes. Just a little bit, she would have said. "You get really overbearing and it comes across as the same thing. Judy thinks you were overprotective. That's all she thinks."

"I don't want it to be all she thinks," Dinah snapped.

Francy just looked tired. "I'm sorry, Di. You could try again. You could get me to tell her. Or..."

"Or we do nothing?"

"I know it's not the answer you want to hear but..."

"It's the safe answer. The smart answer."

The answer even her grandmother had given her (Emily said it was okay to tell her grandmother; Sue and Charlie were the best). All those years ago it had been Francy who'd told. Dinah was a bit too proud (a bit too distraught) to say anything to anyone but the twins. Now she was getting her wish. No one else could know—it _sucked_.

"I'm sorry," Francy said, squeezing her hands. They were powerful words; Dinah had felt that, the past little while. Maybe that's why she felt like she was going to cry.

"I'm glad you came home this summer," was all she said. Dinah forced herself to ignore the lump in her throat. "You and Brian should come over for a movie or something on Friday. Something like we used to do."

"Without the two of you making out behind my back?" Francy asked.

"We never—we were teenagers and very stupid. I'm sorry."

"You should be," Francy grumbled, but she was smiling. "You could have been a little less obvious."

"I blame my hormones."

"Speaking of hormones—"

"We are not talking about Bert."

One of Francy's eyebrows rose (a trick Dinah should never have taught her). "I was going to ask where your brother was."

"Oh. Out with Ester. Apparently, they really are friends."

Maybe it wasn't like it was before. Maybe she and Francy couldn't go back. Maybe the way they had been before was all in Dinah's head. Maybe they had only gotten close because Emily died and Francy needed someone. But it was still good, in its own way.

Like things with Brian were good. Or would be good. Dinah would make sure they were good eventually.


	22. Chapter 22

A/N: And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

* * *

><p>The universe hated me.<p>

All I wanted was to have everyone together in Seattle, hang out, have some fun. I wanted to show Kara she belonged with my pack. I just wanted to have fun.

I didn't want my little sister to try to kill Dinah.

Dinah, at least, wasn't mad at me. Dinah was mad at herself, which was strange to see. Apparently when Dinah got really mad she got perky. She wanted to talk about my feelings and she wanted to cuddle and all this other touchy feely crap that made me worry that someone had taken over my sister. When I called her on it, she told me to stop being a dumbass, which reassured me a little bit. Maybe my problem was that she looked pale all of the time. And the scars on her stomach...

Back in January, Will had reinvested in shirts. I hadn't said he had to; Brian definitely hadn't said it. But Will had gone and bought t-shirts. If wearing a shirt meant Will didn't have to talk about Brian's guilt, well, Will didn't care how hot it was.

For all that Dinah didn't want Judy reminded of what had happened, Dinah wasn't about to spend her life worrying if her shirt was tucked in. So sometimes when she lifted her arms the mangled flesh on her stomach was just THERE, reminding the pack of what had happened. Of what we could do.

At least Brian and Bert were only depressed. Baxter felt guilty—as he should. Judy had lost her temper with him and he hadn't bothered to tell me. He'd kept it to himself, when he should have known I needed to know, if I'd had known—Dinah got hurt and we should have been able to stop it. We hadn't.

Baxter felt guilty, but being there for Judy was helping him deal with that. He even suggested having Judy talk to his dad and when my dad found out he talked me into it.

Sam helped her. He took her cliff jumping, too, but that was mostly because I think Sam had figured out the easiest way to get his son to forgive him was to suck up to his girlfriend. It was working, too. Baxter was talking to him more, now.

"The thing I hate most about this whole mess," I told Will and Brian as we hiked through the forest (because even when we weren't patrolling, we needed to be in the forest; it kept us grounded), "Is now I can't even bitch about my sister's boyfriend. I swear, the kid's doing this just to piss me off."

He was always there and always concerned about her—and he was talking to Sam for her, which meant he'd do absolutely anything for her. How the hell was I supposed to complain about him now?

"You still found things not to like about me," Brian pointed out. "And I like to think I treated your sister well."

"That was because we didn't like you," Will said. "Not because you were dating Dinah. Well, not only because you were dating Dinah."

"You were a nerd," I reminded Brian.

"Just because I'm smarter than the two of you put together..." Aw. We'd rubbed off on Brian—I would have exchanged proud looks with Will, but he was ignoring me. He'd been ignoring me since Seattle (Will didn't want to be beta because he knew you shouldn't be in charge unless you could actually handle it). "I'm not a nerd."

I snorted; I couldn't help it.

"I never enjoyed algebra—and I had friends who weren't related to me."

Will burst out laughing, though it didn't stop them from throwing a few punches back and forth.

"We had other friends," I insisted, but Brian and Will ignored me. So maybe I had to join in the fight.

When the tree cracked in half, we started walking again.

"So you're mad at Baxter again?" Brian asked. "Or are you complaining because you have to stop?"

"The second," I said. "He's even helping Dinah plan Judy's sweet sixteen. And Dinah's..."

"Very determined to make this the best party ever." Brian was very good at putting things diplomatically.

That was how Judy was going to apologize to Dinah—by accepting this even though she felt like she didn't deserve it. I didn't understand—Judy didn't understand and Judy always understood people. But Judy was going along with it because that's what Dinah had decided.

"Bert said she tried to rope him into furniture gathering," Will said. It was one of the most important parts of any get together; talking people into letting you borrow tables and chairs and then promising to bring them back (in relatively the same condition).

"He got out of it?" I asked.

"Does that sound like fun?"

"Yeah, but...Dinah."

"I think your uncle said he'd take care of it," Brian offered. Seth had come home; he'd brought Nessie with him and she'd been running tests on Dinah occasionally just to make sure everything was all right.

"Does Judy really need everyone she's ever met to come to this thing?"

Brian just shrugged. Will didn't say anything, though he'd been gritting his teeth about the party. It was my parents' money and Dinah was being thrifty, but that didn't mean he was enjoying it.

"Am I going to have to order you to come?" I asked my cousin.

"You seem to like ordering me places."

"You're out of line," I said with a snarl.

"You don't get to be pissed. I get to be pissed because I could have—" A few deep breaths to make sure he didn't phase, then Will continued: "Brian can be pissed if he wants, because I could have killed his sister along with everyone else in that hospital. But you don't get to be pissed because you made a stupid call."

"It wasn't stupid." There wasn't much about the situation I was proud of or even remotely happy with, but sending Will to watch over Dinah wasn't something I was embarrassed about. I knew he could do it. I knew him; I trusted him. "The stupid thing is hiding out, like you'll be able to control it if you just don't have to be around people. It's not going to work like that. You're just going to get used to be alone—and then someone's going to catch you off guard and you'll…what? What if you don't have time to lock yourself in your room?"

"Okay," Brian said, stepping between us. His arm was up, in front of my chest, but he was facing Will. "Levi's just trying to pick a fight. You know that. I know you know that. He doesn't mean it. Let it go."

"I'm not trying to—"

"Shut up, kid," Will said, turning around, walking it off (pacing so quickly he was making me dizzy). "Everyone knows—I get it. But I can't take you in a fight anymore, remember?"

"I'm not—"

Will was pacing, but Brian was staring me down and there had been a reason why we hadn't liked Brian for so long. When he looked at you like that, it was really hard not to feel…all these stupid feelings.

"Nobody blames you for what happened. You know that, right?"

"I got it, Brian, thanks."

Brian sighed and turned to Will. They were like the opposite of my parents, who argued over who got to punish me—they both kept trying to hand me off to the other.

"But you think we should," Will said finally. "Which if dumb. That's what Brian's trying to say."

"Then I guess he isn't as smart as he thinks he is."

"Levi, it was an accident. Maybe you could have prevented it; maybe you couldn't have. Blaming yourself isn't going to change anything," Brian said.

"It'll just give everyone else an excuse to feel guilty, too," Will said. "And there's a lot of people who should feel a whole lot worse about this mess than you do. But since Judy doesn't deserve that and Dinah is absolutely unbearable when she feels guilty—"

I think she'd tried being nice to Will when she got out of the hospital; it had freaked him out.

"Anyway," Brian interrupted. "We'll fight you if you want. But it has to be two on one. And you have to stop _this_, afterwards."

I did not feel guilty, thank you very much. I hadn't done anything.

Sure, they were my pack and I should have done something to stop it, but, well, I hadn't. Beating up Brian and Will (okay, two on one I don't think I'd have a chance, but I wasn't going to admit that) wasn't going to make me feel better. It wasn't going to change the fact I sucked at this whole thing.

"I should have paid more attention to Judy." The words were heavy in my mouth. "I should have kept Dinah safe."

"She's fine," Brian said. He hadn't slept very much the first week she'd been in the hospital. But he told me she was fine.

"Kara won't even talk to me anymore."

"She wants to," Brian offered. Great. Just what I wanted to hear—she could talk to him and not to me. "She just needs a bit more time."

"I suck at all this," I admitted.

"You can stop talking any time," my cousin said. "We're not therapists. We're like the opposite of that, really."

"We'll do better next time," Brian promised. "Be more careful without being too careful."

"I still say I'm not being too cautious," Will said.

I'd been wrong about Judy (I hadn't known about Judy), but I wasn't wrong about Will. If he hadn't phased on me tonight, it would take a lot more than it used to for him to phase (he'd needed Brian's help, tonight, of course, but that was the point—we just have to make sure no one did it alone. That's all).

"You're an idiot," I said.

"Must run in the family."

"I don't know why I hang out with you two," Brian said.

We knew he didn't mean it. We still took him down, though.

* * *

><p>Because I was a very nice Alpha wolf—and everyone else was working or hanging out with Dinah, who I was totally coddling unless she asked in which case I totally wasn't—I'd taken the Friday night patrol. It meant I couldn't go out, but since I didn't have a girlfriend...Friday night was the best night for moping. A guy could really get into the reasons his life sucked when he was stuck running alone on Friday night.<p>

So when I got home, I really wasn't in the mood to do anything but curl up in bed. Maybe watch some TV, if someone was still up. But my parents were asleep, my sisters were asleep (I did not think about why there were five people asleep in my house—Judy had been clingy lately and it wasn't like the kids could do anything, since my sisters were sharing their room again); the TV could stay off.

When I went to my room, my phone had a message for me.

Since the pack would have phased if it was urgent, I knew it couldn't be important. I almost didn't bother listening to it. The run had left me alert, though, so I figured I'd kill some time.

It was Francy, asking me if I could give her a ride. Not that kind, though I probably would have called her back and told her I'd be there a little faster if that was the case. Still, I called her back. She was at some party and it wasn't too far, so I went to pick her up.

When I got to the house, the party was dying out. Francy was already on the road with a group of people, wearing a skirt I heartily approved of and a shirt that I couldn't see from the back. When I waved she was over like a shot, shouting goodbyes and slipping in seamlessly.

"Do you mind?" I hadn't known she smoked, though I didn't care if she did it around me. I guess being my imprint meant she could read my mind because she offered: "Only when I'm drunk."

"Just roll down the window," I said. Nowadays, too many smells and I got headaches. With the window down and the smoke, I could almost ignore the heavy, musky scent underneath the smoke and the alcohol. Almost.

"Thanks for coming," she said. Her legs were crossed in the seat; she didn't look drunk. Not the kind of drunk I got, at any rate. "My ride bailed and Jeanie was wasted and people suck sometimes."

Maybe it would have been better not to say anything, but when did I ever do that? "Brain was asleep?"

"For some reason my brother doesn't really like it when I drink." She put her hand over her mouth, over-dramatic and mocking. "Shocking. I know. It's like he thinks Dad's a bad influence, or something."

"Oh."

I would have said something more, but she shifted her legs and—it was just very distracting, okay?

"It's totally fine when he does it, of course," she assured me, patting my arm. "Obviously. He can handle it. And he doesn't tell the kids not to because of course they are totally mature enough. But me—I can't figure out when enough is enough."

That wasn't fair to Brian—he'd let Will give her brothers a quick talking to once. He hadn't liked it—because Will could be absolutely terrifying—but Brian didn't want the kids drinking. He only drank when I made him because it didn't affect him—which was not the affect it had on Francy, clearly.

"When really," she explained, "He's the one taking after Dad, thinking we're just stuck doing the same thing as our parents even though—Dad didn't even used to think like that, you know. He used to say we were going to do so much more—be so much more. Mostly to Brian, of course, but someone had to take care of him, so I was going to go with him and..."

She rambled about her brother and her father, until she bent over, head on her lap.

"Hey! Don't puke in the car." It was my dad's.

She sat up, pushing her hair off her face with her free hand, and just sort of shook it out. "Sorry I wrecked your evening. My ride bailed. Rides. They were all—and I couldn't call Brian."

"Dinah would have come and got you." My sister would have stabbed me if I hadn't reminded her best friend of that. My sister saved the lectures for when you were sober enough to cower properly.

"Tonight, she was deigning to let Bert—Bertrand near her. I didn't want to ruin that." Francy laughed. "Marlena would come back and haunt me if I ruined her brother's very slim chances of getting laid."

I laughed. "You mean there is a chance?"

"I spend most of my time wanting to lick you all. Bertrand grew up. Even Dinah's noticed."

"You can lick me any time."

When I turned my attention on her, her eyes were on my chest. Well, maybe lower than my chest. That was not my fault; she just _smelt_…

"Kyle had whisky dick. So he took off and left me." Her eyes met mine, just shadows in the darkness. The matter of fact tone she'd been using all night was still there. "You want to? I don't really want to go home yet."

Since it wasn't every day a guy got propositioned by his imprint, I figured pulling the car over to the side of the road was the best idea. I could survive a car crash, but she couldn't.

"You serious?"

Her gaze was appraising. Considering how many times she had to blink to focus on me, it was pretty cold.

"Yeah. If you want to—just sex, no soul mate stuff. This is—it isn't a thing."

"No thing," I was quick to agree. "Absolutely not. Just no strings attached sex. I'm good at that. Great at that. You will not believe how great at that I am."

She snorted and it somehow ended up with her giggling. "That a promise?"

"Hell yeah." I couldn't keep the grin off my face.

"You can't tell Brian," she said. "Or the rest of my brothers. Or Dinah. And when William figures it out—"

"Sure." I leaned over to kiss her—might as well be a little romantic—but she held out her hand to stop me.

"Let me finish the cigarette first," she said as she waved her hand erratically in front of my face. "We can't afford—of course not."

"Sure." I started thinking with other parts of my body. "It's a little crowded in here."

"I'm not screwing you in a forest. Or on all fours. I'd rather not be a cliché. Where are you going?" she demanded as I got out of the car. "Levi—seriously, not the forest."

She still opened her door. Since she was struggling to stand up, I pulled her up so that gorgeous body was finally pressed against me. Since there was no back on her shirt, all I could feel under my hand was warm, soft skin. The light from the car was enough to see by—enough for me to see, anyway. She was wearing heels, but they didn't help with the height difference. Sure, Francy wasn't short, so I wouldn't have to duck down the way I had to with—

It made more sense to pick her right up (she didn't shriek; she expected it) and carry her over to the truck of the car. I had her thighs in my hands, hanging onto smooth, hard muscle, running up and up, until I felt the material of her skirt as I stepped between those long legs. She let me, didn't even say anything, just used her arm on the hood to keep herself steady as she finished the cigarette.

When she was done, I put it out and she leaned forward.

"If I kiss you, I'm not getting Kara back."

There was too much darkness. It was impossible to see. But her hand on my arm was gentle and her voice was sad.

"Levi, I think it's safe to say you're not getting Kara back."

"You don't know that."

"No, I don't." She was leaning back and I started to realize it wasn't an invitation—she couldn't stay upright without propping herself up. "Maybe I'm wrong."

But she wouldn't be doing this if she thought she was wrong.

"I at least have to try."

"If you love something, you set it free. You don't stalk it and...whatever it is you do. You let it go." Her hands pulled my face down, close enough that her breath was on my lips. "Let it go."

"You've got to know how stubborn I am."

She leaned forward (collapsed forward more like) and buried her head under my chin. "I might have heard a story or two," she admitted. "It's not going to work."

"It might." I had to believe that.

"Believe it or not, some girls manage to figure out relationships shouldn't leave sca—" But she didn't finish the sentence.

"Come on," I said picking her right up. She was getting sleepy. "I'm taking you home."

I could feel her sighing against my chest. "I was afraid you'd say that."

On the way, the words had been flowing. Now, they dried up. I offered to take her to a friend's place at one point, when the silence got to much, but she just wondered how she'd explain that. It took her a minute (or three) but she managed to climb out of the car eventually.

* * *

><p>"You're up early."<p>

The surprise in my mother's voice would have been insulting if I ever got up before twelve on a Saturday when I'd had a late patrol the night before. As it was, she was making me eggs (well, making herself eggs, but when I stole her toast she didn't do more than growl, so I could take what I wanted), so I just nodded.

"Something wrong?"

"Nah." Mom glared. She really was too good at that. "Brian might come over and kill me this morning. Or Baxter."

"What did you do now?"

"Nothing."

"Levi."

Since I was no longer sitting in a cramped car with my horny imprint, my brain was working a bit better. If Kara had officially dumped me (having Kim do it didn't count) I probably would have slept with my drunk, depressed imprint. I think telling my mother that would have earned me another glare. And possibly gotten me kicked out of the house.

My mother had always been big on treating girls with respect (or at least not knocking them up). I totally got it. I usually realized after the fact that she wouldn't be happy with something I said or did but as long as the girls didn't complain...but I had a feeling Francy wouldn't have been thrilled this morning if we had slept together. No, that wasn't right. I don't think she would have cared one way or another, as long as people didn't talk.

But Dinah would have killed me. Slowly. Very slowly.

And her brothers would be super pissed that I had even considered it.

"I picked Francy up from a party last night. She was a little tipsy. I think they'll be looking for someone to blame."

"Is she all right?"

"She's not exactly thrilled to be back here."

"Sam said as much. But he—she is allowed to go out sometimes."

"Hell, yeah. This was the first time she's been out since she got back, I think." Honestly, I think she'd heard how many hours a week Will was working and decided it was a competition because frankly, I don't know how she had time to sleep let alone go out (Will was winning, I was sure). "It's just..."

"What?"

"She said something last night and—I don't know, it's been bugging me." My mother didn't say anything, just threatened to stab me with a fork if I didn't leave her food alone. She wasn't a werewolf anymore (in fact, she didn't need all the food she was eating just then), but I guess she hadn't stopped defending her territory. I went to get my own food and explained, "Do you think if you love someone you should...I feel stupid even thinking about this kind of crap."

"Don't tell your father I said this, but I think you get your emotional arrestedness from me." Her lips quirked. "Sorry about that."

"You should be."

"I won't tell anyone. No matter how stupid you sound."

All heart.

"Do you think—if you love someone, are you just supposed to let them go? Because that—I don't like that."

"Maybe you get it from your father, too."

"Was that supposed to be helpful?"

"It makes me feel less guilty," she said with a shrug. Then she kicked out the chair beside her so I could sit down. I sat; I knew an order when I saw one. "What are we talking about, here?"

"What?"

"Because sometimes," she said slowly, "You need—maybe not let people go but—sometimes you have to admit you can't be the one to help. Sometimes, you need the pack or maybe even vampires...and sometimes even that's not enough. Losing someone is...it's hard. I know that's too simple, too, but..it's hard. It sucks. You have to deal with that."

"I get that."

"You do?"

"Yes." I rolled my eyes. "I reserve the right to ignore your excellent advice and continue not dealing with it—"

"Levi."

"What? I'm just supposed to wake up and be totally fine? I'm dealing with it."

She stared me down. Of course my mother won. I managed to roll my eyes at her, though, so I didn't feel like a total loser.

"Okay," she said softly. "But I'm here if you don't want to deal with it alone."

"Fine." I struggled to remember what we had been talking about. "Okay, but if someone's right there and they won't—or can't—or are just being stupid—"

"Then as your father's son, I highly doubt you'll be able to just stand back. I probably should say you should; people need their space. You do need to respect that. It's just...if you are going to be all noble, make sure you are very clear that you love them first. Sometimes it's just really hard to believe—so just be clear." Her lips curled back, exposing her teeth. "Very clear."

"I can do that."

"Of course you can." She looked at my empty plate. "How do you eat that fast?"

"Genetics," I said, patting her on her head. My mother threatened to ground me, but that was nothing new. Neither Brian nor Baxter came by to kill me, so I figured it was a good morning.


	23. Chapter 23

Dinah pulled out all stops for Judy's birthday, which meant _everyone_ showed up. There was no escape—unless you were Will and had planned to work for weeks ahead of time and even he had to come by when we gave Judy her present.

It had been Dinah's idea. Never let it be said that Dinah didn't take to the wolf thing just like I had, even if she never transformed. In Dinah's mind, if I was Alpha, then I should be able to outrank everyone—even the imprint fairy. So I ordered Judy's boyfriend not to imprint.

Judy was happy. Baxter was happy. Brian and Will said we needed to test it to be sure, but my parents were against that plan (even my mom). Shit happened to us for a reason. It was better not to interfere too much. Still, it made Judy smile.

Even if she was dressed like...my baby sister didn't look like a kid anymore. It was absolutely terrifying.

"How did it go?" Dinah asked. Bert and I were trying to find something to drink in one of the many coolers.

"They seem happy." My sister and her boyfriend were still wrapped in each other over by the forest's edge. They needed to stop, not only because it was making me nauseous, but because werewolves still needed to breathe. "We're not sure it'll work or anything. Your imprint volunteered to test it out."

"I just said we'd be the best people to test it on," Bert muttered.

Dinah narrowed her eyes. She was tempted, of course, but she was pretty fair. If the kid hadn't done anything, she wasn't going to make him stop just because she didn't like the _idea_ of imprinting.

"Brian and his child make more sense to me," she said. So that was a no—it was a screw with my imprint and die, I think.

"Ginger here?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Not yet. Though apparently she's coming with her boyfriend."

"Brian's not going to like that."

"He's seventeen. No one should like it," Dinah snapped. "Kids these days."

She glared at Bert, like it was his fault Ginger didn't know what age-appropriate meant. Bert just handed her a pop (she rolled her eyes, but she took it with a muttered thanks).

"Kara here?"

"I think I might have seen her with Brian."

If she was with Brian, it was good. He'd convince her to come around. Maybe. Hopefully. He was the one of us I'd trust to talk her around, at any rate. Sure, even he'd lost his temper, but—that had been an accident.

So I headed inside, just to check that she was with Brian. And maybe see if I could tell if he was making progress or not.

I didn't make it very far. The old timers had shown up early, of course, so they were passing through. I had to say hi to them all (buy Judy some time in case she wanted to keep sucking face with my loser Beta) and then I had to explain that no, I hadn't found anything in the forest lately, and yes, I did have a plan for the future (though, no, I wasn't telling).

I'd been talking to Charlie, recently. I don't think I would mind be a cop. It's not like I had a record (sure, people around here knew I got into fights a lot, but all that had been buried under a tree or something, officially). But I didn't want to say anything because then Charlie would get stuck talking about it and he didn't like it when the pack descended on him (he liked being quiet and mysterious; it was the only way he could handle our craziness, I think).

And at the end of the werewolves, I ran into Ester.

Two years ago, I hadn't been friends with Ester Cook. I wouldn't have wanted to be; she would have felt the same. She was two years older than me and wouldn't talk to Will, which limited our social interaction. But Baxter had dated her sister (there was one degree of separation in La Push, if that) and he'd been trying to make nice with his ex and somehow I had ended up hanging out with Ester and even if she didn't know the werewolf stuff, she was still pretty cool.

Not that I was proving that I could be friends with hot girls—okay, I was and I was doing a good job. Ester was pretty enough, though her baggy sweaters weren't incredibly endearing. Kara would be proud. If, you know, she was talking to me.

"Nice ponytail. Very fancy," I said when I saw her. I don't think she knew how to do her hair any other way. Ester looked unimpressed so I added, "You still look gorgeous."

"You look better without the shirt."

"Dinah picked it out."

"Your big sister picks out your clothes?" Ester adored me; you could tell.

"And my socks."

She cracked a grin (finally) and snagged the stuffed pepper off of my plate. We talked about normal people stuff, nothing to do with creatures that went bump in the night. It wasn't my cup of tea, but it was all right. When we finished the food, I started looking around for something else to eat. Francy was taking out more appetizers.

We hadn't talked about when I'd driven her home that night, but it wasn't awkward when we met up. I just hugged her hello and enjoyed her in her _very_ little black dress.

"I'm still not letting you eat all the food," she warned me as she stepped back.

"I'm taking my hug back, then."

"Tease. I know the truth now."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Uh huh," she said, turning to Ester. "And you're already eating. Go ahead, Levi."

"Sorry," Ester said unapologetically. "I had to beat him to it."

"I ate before they got here," Francy agreed. "Dinah's got some stuff hidden away if you get hungry later."

The girls were polite to each other, though not quite comfortable. There'd been the same awkwardness when I first started making Ester hang out with Brian—Uleys were loyal. Since Baxter and his ex were getting along, Brian and Ester had decided to get along (wonderfully, because I was awesome at picking girls to be friends with). I don't think she and Francy had quite kissed and made up yet. Maybe if I was lucky, they'd let me watch.

"Either of you seen Brian?" Francy asked eventually. "He was supposed to be helping me bring out the platters."

"He's with Kara out front," Ester said. "Levi, don't."

"I wasn't going to—" Neither one of them looked like they believed me. "I just want to take a peek."

"If it's at all possible, Brian will talk her around," Francy said.

"Or she'll end up with a horrible crush on him," Ester said VERY unhelpfully. "What?"

"Older and paying attention to her," Francy explained. "That might be all it takes." It was just to be mean. "We're teasing. Kara wouldn't have a crush on Brian."

"Why not?" I asked a little desperately.

"She still thinks the bad boy crap is cute," Ester said. "We all go through it, unfortunately. Oh! Are those apple tarts?"

Ester hurried after my mother while Francy said, "Not all of us. Anyway, you're not bad, are you, Levi? You're just a little naughty."

She even pinched my cheek.

"Cut it out," I may have whined. "Have you talked to Kara lately?"

"She's been busy with exams. Just here and there."

"Have you said anything about me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did you talk to her about me?"

"You really think I'd tell Kara about that?"

Of course not—that would mean talking about it and heaven forbid she'd do that. Her brothers might find out.

"Have you tried talking her into talking to me?"

Her voice was maddeningly calm. "So she can end up with more bruises? So she can let you talk for her forever? There are plenty of girls who couldn't resist you, Levi. Maybe even one who can accept that you're not perfect. Why do you need her?"

"It's not—" The words stuck in my throat. "You really think it's like that between us?"

The bruises were accidents; I was doing my best not to—I tried as hard as I could to stay in control. She was quiet; sometimes I cut her off, but I didn't...I wouldn't...I liked it when she was lying on top of me and we were talking and she tell me about her day. She stood up to me in quiet little ways, trying to tell me what she thought without demanding my attention like everyone else on the stupid rez. Kara sure as hell didn't think I was perfect. I definitely wasn't.

For a second, I thought she'd take it back. "I think I'm not as wrong as we want me to be."

Dinah waved to us; Francy sighed. "And that's my cue to bring out more food. I really am sorry, Levi. I do want the two of you happy. I'm just not sure...you really think you're the best thing for her?"

"Ouch," Ester said quietly as we watched Francy disappear. I wasn't sure when she'd come back, but she'd heard enough. "You look like you need an apple tart."

I took the food even as I muttered, "You think she's right?"

"I think Fran's heard that question one too many times." Ester gathered the crumbs on her thumb and licked them off; she made up for the pony tail in other ways. "Doesn't make it a bad question."

"I do want what's best for Kara."

"I think Kara always looks happy around you. But she might be able to fake it; I don't know her well enough."

"You could be a little more reassuring."

"If she still hasn't dumped you, she's not going to. I'm going to assume she knows what's best for her. But then, I bet Fran knows more about the situation than I do."

That was the part I wasn't telling my dad or Sam, or any of the old timers who believed secrecy kept us safe—Ester knew something was up. She didn't think we turned into giant wolves, I don't think, but she knew something was up with me. It was like how we had all known SOMETHING was up when we were kids. Since it wasn't her parents, though, Ester was chill about it. When the pack called and I had to take off, she didn't ask for an explanation, just told me to be careful (and to bring pizza when I came back).

"Fran's part of the problem."

"Okay."

"Kara thinks I...I wouldn't cheat."

"Guys around here don't cheat. You don't have to cheat to make it clear you'd rather be with Fran."

"Talking about her legs is just habit." More than habit: it was the only way I knew how to talk to her. I think she was starting to get that. "If I meant anything by it, I'd have had her by now."

"It's not being cocky if you're right, I suppose," Ester observed. She took my plate from my hand; she just wanted the chips. "Go find her then. I heard there were supposed to be avocado dip."

She wandered away, looking for the food.

I didn't rush out the front of the house because I trusted Brian, but did head in that direction. I found him with Danny and since I'd bruised my sister's ex-boyfriend last time we talked, I didn't bother interrupting. It would have been rude if I made him piss himself.

Brian did motion for me to do something, but I had no idea what he meant. I stared and he repeated the gestures, smacking his hands together.

"He's trying to tell you Kim's here," Dan said eventually. "Do you two want to talk?"

"Sorry," Brian apologized. The kid was already backing away, so I just hit him on the back (he jumped about three feet in the air, the slimy bastard) and left him alone.

Well, I'd expected Kim to come if Kara was coming. It was a pack thing. It didn't mean I was looking forward to it because the last time I had talked to Kim she had dumped me on behalf of her daughter (it didn't count—"I think you should stay away from her before you get her killed," Kim had said. "It's what she wants." It wasn't an official dumping. I'd done plenty of dumping. I'd recognize it when it happened to me).

Fortunately, my mother and father were holding Kim hostage in the living room. A sniff warned me to take the long way around the house, so I did, hurrying around the house instead of through it. I crashed into the younger Uley twins—by the time I got away, the backyard was packed.

Picking people out by scent was definitely out, especially with all the food. By sight...I don't know how people managed not being the tallest person in any gathering. It was an important skill set. I could pick out Judy because of the red dress she was wearing, talking with some school friends (Baxter was still with her, but at this point I wasn't even annoyed). Most of the rest of the crowd blended, though.

"Bert's helping her hide by the edge of the forest," Dinah said, appearing at my side. She made me jump—not that she snuck up on me, or anything. I was just focused on my search.

"Thanks."

"Go get her, stud."

"Don't call me that."

Dinah laughed at me. "Hey, if she won't take you back—"

"Don't threaten to kill me soon to be re-girlfriend." I frowned. "Whatever. You know what I mean."

"I was going to say that if she doesn't take you back, it's her mistake. You're one of the good ones."

"Have you been body snatched again?"

"Stop stalling and get going," Dinah ordered me. I went.

At these sort of parties, the forest was a tricky proposition. Sure, it gave privacy that you sure as hell weren't going to get in the house, but, well, anyone else who wanted privacy was going to head there too. And there weren't any rooms or locks. Kara and Bert had managed to find a tree just by the edge, with roots they could sit in. Smart kids. If you went into the woods, who knew what you could accidentally stumble across.

"Hey," I called as I came over.

Kara was wearing some ridiculously ugly dress, a mustard colour (that made me hungry) that didn't stop me from noticing she looked pale. She looked tired. I didn't like that I might have been the one to do that.

It was Bert who returned the greeting, but the next thing he said was to her. "You want me to stay?"

While I didn't like it, I figured it was the right thing, too. I didn't even try to stare him down, just kept my gaze on her.

"Thanks, but—" She blushed and stammered and just generally looked adorable. "I'll see you later, okay?"

Bert nodded and stood up. He didn't have to pass by me to go back to the party—there was a lot of wide open space—but he did. Keeping his voice too low for her to hear, he said, "Don't go in the trees and stay a couple of feet away."

He'd been right beside her, but I'd had enough fun ordering Baxter around earlier that I could listen to another wolf. One who had been able to talk to Kara, which wasn't something I'd had a lot of luck with in the past couple of weeks.

"How have you been?" I figured it couldn't hurt to start with something light.

"Okay. Glad school's almost over."

"You have any plans for this summer?"

Seriously?

"Not really. Just working. Uh—can you, uh, sit down?"

I took a step forward and she cringed. Right. I dropped to the ground instead. "This okay?"

"Doesn't hurt my neck as much," she offered. Right. "How have you been?"

"I miss you."

It couldn't hurt to get that out there, right?

I wish I had been able to corner her earlier because by now the sun was long gone and I couldn't tell if she was blushing or not, just that she was looking down at the grass, hands playing in the dirt.

"I miss you, too."

That was good, right?

"You think maybe I could start coming around again?"

"You really want to?"

"Of course I do. You think I'd let anyone else get away with just ignoring me for weeks at a time? I know what happened with Dinah was tough; but I hope...I miss you."

She shivered; that's what happened to her when she didn't wear her stupid sweaters even though it was still pretty warm.

"You want my shirt?"

"I'm sorry about Moms. I was upset and she didn't like that. I'm sorry I didn't call, either. I just didn't know what I should say."

"You can tell me anything. Anything at all."

Kara let go of her knees and tried to look me in the eye. She settled for staring at my collar bone. "You guys have always been dangerous. I know that. It's still—I don't like seeing it. It was worse this time because at least I knew you couldn't get hurt. Dinah..." She shivered. "But it still...I know you're dangerous. I know you wouldn't hurt me. If you could help it."

"I wouldn't let anyone else hurt you either."

"If you could help it."

"Yeah." So I wasn't all powerful. I could admit that; I hated doing it, but I could.

"I'm really happy that your dad let you be in charge. You seem to really like it; I know you're really happy doing it. Everyone says you're pretty good at it." She offered me a shy smile, the kind of smile that used to make me want to smile in return. Still did, if I was being honest. This time though I just watched, trying to memorize it just in case it was the last time I ever saw it.

"Thanks."

"I know the pack is important to you. To the entire tribe. You're dangerous because there are dangerous things out there that you have to stop." She sounded like she was reading off a brochure; I wouldn't put it past Brian (it's why he was my favourite). "I—I'm glad you don't have to do it alone. It's just...when Dinah got hurt, the only thing you needed from me was to not get in anyone's way."

"You can't come near the wolves."

"I know. I couldn't help at the hospital either. I couldn't—you don't need me for anything."

What the hell was I supposed to say to that?

Sure, she wasn't a fighter like Baxter, or my very own Jiminy Cricket like Brian, or Will. Francy was older, calmer, smarter—Dinah was Dinah. Kara wasn't even my responsibility like Judy or Bert. But, so what? That's what I had all of them for.

"I want you. I don't know what else you want me to say. Shit'll happen. It'll suck. I'll take care of it; you won't get hurt. I'll—"

"Send people to handle me?" Kara finally looked up; she had tears in her eyes. "That's what you did then, it's what you did the last couple of weeks. I don't—I don't want to be just another person you have to take care of, Levi. That _they_ have to take care of, just because you said so."

"We take care of each other because we're all pack."

"I'm not pack."

"Sure you are. You're mine so you're pack."

"Even though Fran's your imprint?"

I figured it was about her—or Will, but my money had been on her because I could protect Kara from Will's type of scary. He'd also been really nice to her at the hospital (he claimed the shock had prevented her from noticing he'd been a jerk, but she'd said he'd been nice and she'd been too surprised for it to be a lie, so it counted).

"Yeah."

"She's my friend. She's my friend and I think I _hate_ her sometimes. Because you..."

Okay, so I was an asshole. "Hey," I murmured. "Hey, Kara, don't. I know I get weird around her—"

"You say you love me but—you're just with me because you decided to be before she came around."

"No," I assured her; she let me wrap my arms around her. She was so tiny and soft and breakable in my lap. "Okay, I'm a stubborn asshole, but I wouldn't stick with you just to stick with you. I'd get bored too easily. I'm not with her because I want to be with you. I know I should be better at—I love you. Not her. I'm sorry I haven't made you believe it."

She sniffled, but didn't start to cry.

"I'm figuring this whole thing out as I go," I explained. "I'm sorry it sucks for you while I do it. But I think, I think she's my imprint because no one else has the patience or the brain damage to handle Di and Will _and_ the Uley boys. She's good for the pack. And that's important to me, it's super important to me, but it's not everything."

I don't think Kara believed me.

"It's not," I promised. "I'm not just part of the pack. I'm me, too. And that's...she's good for the pack, but you're the one who's good for me. Okay? I'll figure out some way to make you believe it."

"I'm scared of you sometimes," Kara muttered against my neck. "Not because I think you'd ever mean to hurt me but—"

"I could." I had.

"I shouldn't be scared of you," she whispered.

"No." I had to agree. "You shouldn't be scared of me."

* * *

><p>Brain tracked me down in the forest and dragged me back eventually. Most of the party had cleared out by the time we got back. Judy and Baxter had taken off with some of her friends and the car that my father was NOT giving her for her birthday (just letting her drive it, Leah, he swore up and down and no one believed him), Brian said. But the rest of the pack was there, helping to clean up. My parents were still over at Embry's; Dinah wanted to make a dent in the cleaning before they got back.<p>

"Though she's letting the twins celebrate their triumph inside, first."

"They scared Ginger off?" Oops. But Brian just looked pleased.

"Her boyfriend decided she wasn't allowed to talk to Art. She dumped him—the twins water ballooned him out of here."

I laughed. "Good for them. Sorry I missed it. I was busy..."

"Whatever happened, we'll figure it out," Brian promised, then left me in a chair in the back to go inside and clean up.

I sat in the darkness, not reassured in the slightest. I was so deep in thought, so still, I don't think Will noticed I was there when he stepped out of the trees. He was almost to the porch before he turned around and came over to sit beside me.

"It's two to one she didn't break up with you," he said.

I growled. "I had a shitty day. Be helpful or shut up."

"You are in a lousy mood." He'd grabbed someone's half eaten burger and started in on it. "So Kara came by and you managed to talk to her."

"We agreed we don't want to break up. She just...she doesn't trust me anymore. If I was a bit more noble, I probably would have broken up with her for her own good."

I was a shitty boyfriend. It may have taken Brian a while, but I got it, thank you very much. But I loved her and I'd find a way to make her realize not only did I want to do better, but I could. It wasn't fun admitting to yourself that you needed fixing, but it was the truth, so. I'd deal.

Kara hadn't said anything as dumb as 'let's take a break,' but things weren't okay, either. The next time I screwed up I knew I was going to lose her. I was losing her already she just couldn't bear to tell me. But she was giving me the chance to make it up to her, so I was going to take it.

Will didn't say anything, just kept eating.

"I have to figure out how to make Francy a non-issue. Fast."

"You shouldn't have made her come home." Will had wanted her to stay in Seattle; she got paid more there.

"Her family needs her and she needs her family." Family always had your back. "And she needs a boyfriend that I can get along with."

"Isn't she seeing Kyle? He's—but he's harmless."

"He's a pretentious dick. And I've got to be quoting you, since I know I didn't come up with that."

"You know some three syllable words."

"Motherfucker."

"That's four. And twenty dollars to the swear jar."

"Shut up," I said with a laugh. "Anyway, I know Kyle doesn't make her happy. How am I supposed to get along with him?"

"Avoid him, then."

"Even if I don't see them together, I'll know. I want Francy to be happy. I think I physically need her to be happy. And I need her happy fast so Kara can believe I don't need her happy with me. The problem is that there's not many people Kara would believe I was okay seeing her with. There's just..."

I trailed off. After talking to Kara, I was too exhausted to pick a fight with Will. Maybe he was tired too because he didn't get pissed (well, he didn't phase).

"So you want her happy, but you'll settle for having me fuck her?"

"I know it's been awhile, but from what I remember you weren't THAT bad at it." He glared. "That came out wrong."

"_Yeah_."

"I only meant...you know what I meant." I grinned at him until he decided not to kill me (he was the one who was purposefully misunderstanding me). Eventually, he remembered he loved me best.

All he did was quietly mutter, "I couldn't even do that to ruin Sam's day. I can't...it's not happening."

"It was just an idea."

"It was a stupid idea."

"That's how you know I came up with it all by myself."

"It wouldn't even help with Kara. Everyone around here thinks they know what happened with Tess."

Tessa had been _cheating _on him with _everyone—_Mike was my witness. I had to do something. Only it ended up that people thought—even Marlena had thought, well, she'd thought wrong. But having Will date my imprint wouldn't stop some people from thinking I would sleep with her.

If Kara'd heard that story, though, she didn't believe it.

"I really need to stop being a shitty boyfriend."

"I think you might be talking to the wrong person."

"You were good to Marlena."

He finally looked over from his burger.

"We're talking about her now?"

"If you want to."

Will laughed, almost happily. "She's all I want to talk about most days. Still. You would think that would go away eventually, but_—_yeah, Levi. If it's about her, anything about her, I want to hear it."

I was still trying to work out what I wanted to say, where I wanted to start, if I even could start, when Brian came out. Maybe the silence tipped him off because all Brian said was, "Stay quiet if you don't want Dinah to find you."

"Stay," I told Brian. "Later. Promise."

Will nodded and explained the situation to Brian. I pointed out, "You couldn't have dated Dinah without learning how to grovel. Advise me, wise one."

"Will's pretty good at grovelling, too," Brian said as he sat down beside me after he handed Will a plate of leftover cake.

"It's called making amends when I do it. Hey, Sam has tons of books on how_—_we could borrow some of those."

Well, it was a place to start.


	24. Chapter 24

A/N: One thing. I think Kara doesn't get more credit in universe because everyone else, with the exception of Bert, is super outgoing (or super connected, if you'd prefer). It's a very social world and the fact Francine is a lot more comfortable with that than Kara is why Levi assumes Francine's 'better' for the pack. That was the logic for that comment last chapter.

* * *

><p>Mom decided we should go on a holiday. Together.<p>

The first thing out of Judy's mouth was, "So can Baxter come?"

My father laughed and my mother glared and us kids realized she was being serious (and that we were in trouble). It was Black family bonding time—joy.

"We could have done this before," I complained.

"We had the pack to look after," my father said easily. When I glared (though I suppose I could have thanked him for making my point for me), he only shrugged. "I know you're busy. But we haven't gone on a real vacation since...we have gone on vacation, right, Leah?"

"No."

"That doesn't seem right."

"All those lies must have gotten you confused," I said. It wasn't that I didn't get why my parents had glossed over why they suddenly had to leave town, but it didn't mean I had to be mature about it.

"There was our honeymoon. Which doesn't count," my mother said very firmly.

"Why doesn't it count?" I asked, after my father winced.

"It doesn't count," Mom repeated. "Now, you will run a couple of patrols further out to make sure nothing will come near La Push. And then trust that your pack can handle it and we will go on vacation."

"You didn't trust that your pack could handle it."

"I had people like Embry in my pack." When my father growled at her, she continued on. "And your father and I were the Alpha and Beta. We couldn't leave. Seth would have been in charge."

If Seth was around, which he wasn't, he was some place I couldn't even pronounce, he'd probably be in charge if I was gone even if Baxter was my Beta. My uncle had twenty years of experience on the rest of us. You listened to that.

"Please, Levi?"

I hated when she pouted.

"We'll go south," Dad said. "That's where they usually come from. You can run a few patrols there, see if you can't head anything off. Okay?"

I guess it was really important to Mom. It's not like I didn't want to go away; my sisters deserved the break and the idea of spending time with my parents wasn't repulsive like it might have been once upon a time. But I couldn't leave my town undefended.

"Baxter's a great fighter," Mom said, "You were just saying Will might be faster than you—and Brian will make them call if they need you. Which they won't."

That's how you could tell Mom had only ever been the Beta, no offence. My father didn't say anything, but I could tell he knew just how unconvincing she was being. Fortunately for my mother, Dinah decided she was on her side.

"You could make it a test. Slip back some nights, see if they can catch you," Dinah suggested. "That way it's a training exercise."

The wolf in me could accept that. Human me decided to see what I could get out of this.

"I'll consider it if Kara can come along."

"Ask her first," Dinah muttered. Right. Shit.

"Can I ask her?"

My parents didn't like it, especially when Judy started pouting about how it wasn't fair. But someone had to stay and run the pack and Judy knew how important this was to me, so she backed down. It took my parents a little longer, but eventually they agreed. Bribery was awesome.

* * *

><p>When I went over to Kara's, Kim opened the door.<p>

I don't think my girlfriend's mother had ever liked me. That wasn't anything new; I don't think I'd ever had a girlfriend who had parents who liked me. Or tolerated me. Or thought anything remotely positive about me other than, 'at least he's not Will.' But Kim had been mostly nice to me before, even after she found out I was sleeping with her daughter (that usually ended up making parents mad, for some reason).

Kim was still nice to me, in a way. I may have felt guilty and been slightly (only slightly, thank you very much) overbearing afterwards to make up for it, but I wasn't responsible for Judy losing control. Judy was barely responsible for Judy losing control. Part of Kim got that—I wasn't banned from the house. But the part of Kim that couldn't forget how she had listened to her daughter crying in another city because of something the Alpha should have stopped? Yeah, that part of Kim gave me dirty looks as she went to go call her daughter.

The dirty looks were useful. By the time Kara joined me on the porch, I was rethinking the begging her to come along thing. We'd be good, I thought, away from the pack. But that wasn't going to make anything different, just put it on hold for a while. So, Dinah would have been proud to hear, it really did come out as a question.

"I know it's kind of short notice with work and everything, so I get if you can't," I even added, "But it would be a lot of fun if you could make it."

"Moms won't agree. But it sounds like fun. Spending a week with your very scary family."

"We're not that—you scared of my family too?"

Kara blushed. "That's not what I meant; it was just a joke. Well, I am scared of Dinah, but…"

"Everyone's scared of Dinah." Everyone with sense, that is. "You scared of Judy?"

"I know I've been…I shouldn't be avoiding her."

"If you're nervous around her, it'll upset her, which will piss her off, which is bad for everyone. Avoid her if you have to. It's better than the alternative."

"I'm not really scared of her. I just—" Kara shook her head. "Maybe when she gets back, I'll call her and we can try to do something."

"You don't have to."

Judy tended not to go too many places if someone from the pack wasn't with her, now. I trusted her more than she trusted herself, but she was still a kid. Sometimes teenagers were moody. Who knew?

"I want to. I've just been…you know when you start putting something off you just keep putting it off and then you put it off because you've put it off for so long?" Kara read the answer on my face. "Of course you don't. Tell her—don't tell her. I'll call her."

"Okay. In the meantime, what should I tell my parents?"

"That I'm glad they invited me. And I'll miss you while you're gone. Well, maybe don't tell them the last part."

It was the first time in a while she'd kissed me first, so I counted it as a victory and worked to show her that I'd miss her even more.

"This is what you want, right?" I asked. "Me just asking you to do stuff?"

"Not your family's vacation. Just…I want to be with you, when you're with the people who are important to you. All of them, not just Brian."

I snorted, remembering. "You could never have a crush on Brian, right?"

"He's a really sweet guy." I growled, making her giggle. "But he's not you."

"Good. I told Ester she was nuts."

"Every girl on the rez know you should date a Uley if you can," Kara explained to me. "They know in Forks, too. Bet all of Washington knows."

"Every girl, huh?"

"Some of us have funny taste." She just laughed at me. "I mean, he's really nice and polite and kind and he listens to me and he remembers things about me and Moms loves him and—"

"That's not cute."

"You're smiling."

"Well, you're lucky you're so damn cute despite what you're saying "

Kara smiled, pleased, and that was good enough for now.

* * *

><p>Honestly, it wasn't much different from the cabins on First Beach. We were closer to Hoquiam than Forks, so I guess it was a vacation.<p>

Judy was excited about lying on a beach all day (Judy could be excited about anything, if she tried hard enough). I was indifferent to the beach until I saw what my sisters were going to wear.

"Seriously?"

At least Dinah had bothered throwing a (see-through) t-shirt over her swimsuit. Judy didn't get cold so she just had a towel in one hand, sunscreen in the other, standing mostly naked between them.

"What's wrong?" Judy wondered.

"How do you swim in that?"

Judy looked at me strangely but then started moving her arms in circles slowly, her leg kicking out every so often so she looked extra ridiculous. "Or I could doggy paddle, I guess."

"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?" I demanded of Dinah.

"I'm single, in case you forgot." Dinah flicked me in the nose, so it would hurt. "Of course I'm doing it on purpose."

But whatever Dinah's plan was, as soon as she realized no one was going to be able to tell Judy was sixteen from looking at her, she let me be as unfriendly to the strange guys that bothered them as I wanted. She could be pretty unfriendly herself—it was pretty funny. Judy didn't quite get it, but then she didn't really care what we did, since she just liked stretching out in the sun.

"We should have gone hiking," Dinah complained when the latest batch had fled.

"You guys picked the beach, not me."

"I didn't think I'd have to watch you oogle girls here, too."

"I wasn't the one eye-fucking orange shorts."

"I'm trying to nap here," Judy complained from between us, pulling her head out of her arms. "Why don't you two just go hiking? I'll be fine."

"No," Dinah and I said together. Dinah may have added, "Thanks anyway." I didn't bother. Like hell I was leaving her alone.

"Super strong, remember?" Judy said. "I'll—oh. Okay. Stay."

It wasn't that I didn't trust her. It was everyone else I wanted to throttle. But she wasn't going to understand that if I stayed so...

"Go for a swim the second you feel the slightest bit annoyed," I warned her. Her face lit up; I was such a sucker. But since no one was going to hurt her on a public beach (no one could hurt her, period), Dinah and I took off.

* * *

><p>My parents were back at the lodge, supposedly unpacking and settling in. It took them a while now, because they lacked upper body strength, but I wasn't going to mock them. Not too much. I was very careful to stomp all the way up the stairs to the cabin, but still managed to hear my mother giggling in a way I never really needed to hear.<p>

"Pick up your feet," Dinah said.

"Survival mechanism," I informed her. It took her a second, but then her expression became sympathetic.

"Stop having sex in there," she called right before she opened the door.

"Or we could do that instead."

"Don't shout," my mother said as we walked inside. "And we weren't—"

"Jacob's shirt is inside out," I pointed out, sitting down on the couch while Dinah went to find pants.

"No, it's not," Dad said. After he checked. "And don't call me that."

It was their idea, actually, since we couldn't exactly explain we looked the same age because of our ability to turn into werewolves. But I guess they didn't want me doing it in private. Too bad.

Mom said, "I thought you all wanted to go to the beach."

"Sitting still is for people who aren't us. We're going hiking. You can come with us," I offered.

"Where's Judy?" Dad demanded.

"In public and tougher than a two by four," I answered. "Are you coming or not?"

"We like the forest," Mom said slowly.

"There will be no making out in the forest," I reminded them.

My father told me to knock it off, but in the end, my parents agreed to come with. Dinah came out with hiking boots and it should have been a warning. I might have been the one with super stamina, but Dinah could hike a long way, too. She led the way and we had to keep up or get left behind.

"Some of us are old," my mother called.

"Your body is in its mid-twenties," Dinah called back, shouting backwards into the steadily growing gap between them.

"And out of shape," my father may have muttered. My mother may have punched him. That was definitely her cursing: "Sorry. I always forget we can't do that anymore."

"I can't believe I put up with your abuse all those years, Leah."

"How many trees did you throw me into?"

Dad laughed. "Aw, I miss that."

"I miss this," my mother said. I glanced back to see her watching the forest, inhaling, trying to feel the forest in a way she couldn't anymore. Becoming a werewolf had changed my life; I couldn't ever imagine giving it up. When I inhaled, I could smell the animals scampering over land and the streams of water hidden to the eye. I could smell shit and blood, rot and decay. I could smell the earth and the flowers. When I inhaled, I was told the story of the forest.

My mother caught my eye; she managed a small smile. Dad turned back and grabbed her hand. "Come on, Leah. Or Dinah's going to leave us here to find our own way back."

"You guys are so slow," my sister complained from up the path. They hurried to catch up.

* * *

><p>After the hike, my parents collapsed back at the cabin. I was a very, very kind son and told them we'd take our time and they could shower for dinner. The water should wash away any smells. I hoped.<p>

Judy was where we'd left her, though she had managed to find some company.

"Stay," Dinah said.

"What?"

"You're shaking," she said quietly. "So, stay. I've got this."

I took a deep breath. For all that I complained about Baxter, I didn't really like seeing his girlfriend flirting with other guys. Still. One of the guy's had spotted Dinah walking towards them and while at first his eyes had lit up, it was only a second before something like fear crossed his face. I should probably thank the imprint fairy for never letting Dinah phase or I would be out of a job.

The guys stood up; Dinah was taller than all of them and she made sure they knew it. A flash of her teeth and all three were scrambling away. No wonder Dinah hadn't phased—she was already a wolf.

By the time I got close enough to hear them, Dinah was on a roll.

"Do you know what most guys see when they see girls like us? Fifteen minutes for everyone."

"Di—"

"What the hell were you doing?" I demanded.

Judy's annoyance turned into anger. "I was being friendly. Unlike everyone else in this family." The brat even rolled her eyes at me. "I'm going inside."

"Baxter doesn't deserve—"

"I was _talking_ to them. Geez, Levi. You have no right. You were dry humping those girls in Seattle."

"I—" Point: Judy. "This isn't about me—"

"You think everything's about you," she snapped back and stalked off.

"Stay," Dinah said. "You two are not having a werewolf pissing match on the beach."

"What the fuck is wrong with her?"

"Levi, she's sixteen and has spent her whole life growing up in a town where everyone knows her big brothers are psychopaths. Okay? I'll talk to her, but you're overreacting. She was just talking to them. They're the ones who thought three on one was a good idea."

"If you corner your prey first, it can't run away."

"As much as I'd like to help you teach them a lesson, Levi, you can't solve life's problems with your fists."

"I can try," I muttered. Dinah laughed and we headed back to the cabin.

* * *

><p>While I was waiting for my parents to finish preparing dinner, Judy curled up next to me on the couch. She waited until I put my arm around her before she said, "I'm sorry I got all snappy."<p>

"I'm sorry I got mad at you."

"Baxter probably would have too. Well, not mad. He would have just sulked a bit."

"Well, we can be kind of possessive and controlling."

She rolled her eyes. "Just a little. Love you though."

"Good." Since having the two of them break up would be an absolute nightmare for the pack (it had taken me awhile, but my instincts were usually good; I had a great reason for not wanting them together even if I'd only realized it after the fact), I had to ask: "Everything good with you guys?"

"Yeah," Judy said, eyes growing wide. "I thought so. Has he said something? I know I'm a bit of a mess, but he's been so, so good and I thought—"

"Hey, kiddo. Calm down." It came out as an order because I hadn't expected her to take it that badly. It didn't work nearly as well as it should have.

"So he hasn't said anything?"

"Nothing bad. He says lots of lame stuff about you; sounds like a hallmark card," I promised. "So what the hell was today?"

"How come when you do it, it's all—oh of course I didn't mean anything." I did not sound half as dumb as she made me seem. "And I can't even talk to strangers?"

"Because one of us doesn't have an obsession with candy."

"Bite me." She punched me when she realized what a dumb thing that was to say. "You're so weird. So, you want to go out with us tonight? We're doing normal people things. I'm going to be Dinah's wing-man. Wing-woman? Wing-person?"

"You do that." Even with my sisters around, I had a pretty good idea of what I could get up to. I liked it a lot better when the sacrifice I had to make required me to stop going to class and kill things. "I want to stay in and hang with my parents."

They could have come out with us, I suppose. They wouldn't have looked out of place. But I think that after twenty years, hole in the wall bars lose their appeal or something. They'd just warned us all not to do anything too stupid (no getting arrested on family vacation time).

"Nerd," Judy said and kissed me on my cheek.

* * *

><p>So my parents were exactly as lame as I knew they were. Sure, my old man knew how to tell a story and my mom knew how to make fun of him and they were pretty entertaining for old folks, but we ended up sitting around the table, playing cards (not even for money) or around the fire, reminiscing about old times. My parents were excessively fond of stories about me being a dumbass.<p>

Not cool Mom and Dad. Not cool.

When I woke up after the first morning (I got the couch, while my sisters shared one room and my parents shared the other), I found Dinah was still asleep. So I had to be a good brother and go wake her up.

"You look like shit."

"Levi, shut up."

"That doesn't sound good."

"I'm not so hungover that I can't hurt you." Dinah scowled at her pillow. "I have a date tomorrow night."

"You sound very excited."

"He's not—" I don't know how she would have finished the sentence; I don't know that Dinah knew how she'd finish it. "He was nice, though. I figured I should give him a shot. Remind me I hate our sister. Where is she? She needs to bring me aspirin."

"She's in the forest. She's been talking to Baxter for the past two hours."

When Mom told me to call her in for breakfast, I'd gotten something about peanut butter and licking that I was trying very hard to forget I'd ever seen so Judy could just stay in the forest for all I cared.

* * *

><p>We fell into a pattern; we were a family of habit, I guess. Huge breakfast—and we'd all head to the beach to sit around, strolling up and down the coast in different groups, depending on who felt like moving when. Huge lunch—Judy would go back to the beach afterwards, while the rest of us would hike through the forest. Huge dinner—afterwards my sisters would go out and I'd hang with my parents. When Judy and Dinah got back, me and my sister would go for a run. It wasn't like we were too far from the pack, but it was still nice to catch up with everyone.<p>

Everything was still standing in La Push. It kind of hurt my feelings.

"It means you've trained them properly," my father said one night as we sat around the fire. My parents had attempted to make me make smores (because apparently they thought I was still five).

I licked the chocolate off my fingers. "I know."

"So stop worrying," Mom said.

"Or gloat more," Dad suggested. "It'll keep your mind off how you're not there."

I could do that.

"Will's over a hundred and sixty pounds, Baxter has managed three civil conversations with his father in the last week, Brian got promoted again and Bert's built his own computer. I think that's what he said. Anyway, my pack is fucking awesome."

"Mine was better," Dad said with a laugh.

"If by better you mean worse, then sure."

"I was in his pack," Mom said. "Case closed."

"Just because you gave me life, does not mean I have to respect you." Except— "That glare on the other hand…yeah, Dad. Your pack was definitely better."

"Told you so," Dad bragged. Just for that, I was going to keep arguing, only we were interrupted.

"You're making smores without me?" Judy demanded as my sisters arrived at the fire pit. Even Dinah looked disappointed, though I wasn't going to be the one that pointed it out.

"We've got lots of supplies left over," Dad promised. "Well, not a lot of chocolate left because your brother is—"

"I'm a growing boy."

"Carrying around that ego gets heavy," Dinah said as she sat down beside me, next to Judy who had gone for the smore in Dad's hand first. She was a werewolf—she needed her food.

"I thought Judy was the bitch."

"And you were saying something about not being five?" My mother growled at both of us.

We muttered apologies and concentrated on the food. That was what we were good at.

"Did you sense the smores?" Dad asked Judy. It was a reasonable question.

"We got bored," she explained. "And hungry. Well, Dinah got hungry. I'm always hungry."

"That's why we have marshmallows," Dad said.

"There's a few more bags inside if you want," Mom said. She'd packed A LOT of food. The woman wasn't dumb. Terrifying, but not dumb.

"Awesome," Judy said, hopping up to get the food. "Wait until I'm back to start saying anything interesting."

"Well, obviously none of you can talk," I said.

They didn't have to laugh quite so hard.

"I want to know why your honeymoon doesn't count as a vacation," Dinah said eventually. "And why I didn't even know you guys had a honeymoon."

"That is not an interesting story," Mom decided, while Dad settled for a simpler, "No."

It was the no that got my attention.

"Oh come on. How bad could you have screwed it up?" I asked Dad. His glare was nowhere near as impressive as Mom's, but it was cute how he kept trying.

"No, Levi."

"What has Levi messed up now?" Judy asked as she came back. "And does that mean I get all the marshmallows?"

Somehow, between stuffing her face, my sister managed to talk my parents into telling the story of their honeymoon (five years after they had gotten married). My father told the story. My mother had always been better at the sarcastic one-liners than the whole storytelling thing:

It started with the Cullens (like every shitty thing that ever happened to us; sorry, Jake. Continue.)

They used to live in Forks, thanks to a treaty your grandfather made with them, but the time was coming when people would question why they still looked the same. And since it was best for Nessie not to be here, they headed to South America. There was another hybrid, Nahuel, who lived there and they wanted her to grow up with someone like her (ask Seth to tell you about him sometime). Don't ask your uncle about him; things between Nahuel and Nessie didn't really end well, from what I heard. Levi, don't. Whatever you're thinking, don't.

ANYWAY, the point of all this, is that the Cullen's moved to South America. And since I hadn't see Nessie in a while, they decided it would be nice if I could visit.

It was just after Judy's second birthday and with Dinah starting school soon it seemed like if we were every going to go away, now would be the time (it took me forever to convince him). We had responsibilities in La Push (we hadn't seen a vampire in over a year, Seth finally managed to grow up and the pack was fourteen strong; La Push was fine). We were worried something would happen to you kids (my mother, Seth and Quil were watching you guys; you were fine, too). But eventually, we headed to South America.

Your mother oh so considerately decided that since I'd never taken her on a honeymoon, she would allow this trip to count instead (I'm a very thoughtful wife). We'd tried to go to Hawaii to visit Rebecca just after Dinah was born but something came up (starts with a v, ends in ashes) and we had to cancel (cost us a fortune) so we'd put the honeymoon plans on hold for a while. We met up with Nessie for a few days, but the Cullens agreed to postpone the return flight a week, so we decided to head to Rio de Janeiro.

And for the first couple of days it was pretty good (maybe even a little great). A little? (Don't throw things at your father, Levi). We should have known (we should have just stayed in bed). I wanted to stay in bed (you should have been more persuasive). I was very— (Don't sulk, Jake). Your mother insisted she needed pictures to show her mother, so we decided to explore.

There was a vampire (of course there was the vampire).

Your mother caught his scent while we were walking through the city and at first we didn't want to believe it. It was sunny, we were far away from La Push, how many vampires could there possibly be in Brazil? (Tons; apparently when they want to get away from the Volturi…don't go to South America)

We tracked the son of a bitch down. I called the Cullens. They were street racing or whatever vampires with too much time on their hands do. They couldn't come to the phone right then. We waited. And waited (less patiently then he makes it sound). Finally, they called us back. They weren't sure it wasn't a friend of a friend, so they said they'd get back to us.

The asshole caught on that we were on to him. Lucky for us, he decided he'd lure us out of the city to take us out. We ended up chasing him forever; he led us into the Amazon (on our honeymoon). We couldn't kill him, though, because the Cullen shadn't gotten back to us. So we tore him to pieces (on our honeymoon) and set about waiting some more. We waited (on our honeymoon). His body parts kept trying to reassemble (on our honeymoon). We were stuck in the Amazon (on our honeymoon). There were giant snakes (and sloths! Seth was super jealous that I got to throw a talking disembodied head at a sloth on my honeymoon). The vampire wouldn't shut up, told us how the Volturi would kill us, hunt us down, ruin our lives, yadda, yadda (we almost killed him we got so damn bored—every time we tried to find something to do, he's creepy hands would start twitching).

It was only after the second day that we realized our cell reception sucked. So your mother abandoned me with the pissed off dismembered guy and headed back to the city. It took the Cullens another two days to get back to us (of course the vamp wasn't a friend of friend—or the Volturi). Your mother found me, we lit everything on fire and managed to just catch our plane.

"It was sort of romantic," Judy said slowly. "Chasing down a vampire together."

"No," my mother said. But her eyes softened and she leaned into the arm my father always had wrapped around her. "He did insist I stay in the hotel while he waited in the rainforest with Hildefons. It was very chivalrous of him."

"Hildefons?"

"Said he was a Viking," Mom said.

"He said a lot of things," Dad growled. "It's where your mother's collection of antique swear words comes from."

"What a heart-warming family story," I said. Though secretly, not so secretly, I was kind of jealous. Viking vampire in the Amazon? My old man always beat me.

"Hold up," Dinah said. "How many years after you guys were married was this?"

While my mother frowned, Dad just turned to Judy. "What anniversary are we at?"

"This year will be twenty-one," she chirped.

But Mom just held Dinah's eye. "We were married for years before we thought to tell a judge about it. The piece of paper is for you kids, in case you wanted it. Just like the anniversaries were an excuse to dump you on Seth. If we didn't tell you before, it was because you wouldn't have been able to understand. Rings and divorces are for humans."

"It's romantic," Judy hummed.

The pack was pretty much over if Baxter decided to dump her, but I tried not to think about that.

Dinah let her marshmallow catch fire. She liked them burnt on the outside and melting in the middle. Romantic wasn't the word she would have used.

"I think if I eat another marshmallow I'm going to be sick," my father said, rubbing his stomach.

Judy just pulled the bag away from him. "More for me."

* * *

><p>"Have you started packing yet?" Mom asked me as she came to the door. As a matter of fact, I had been making my way through a box of brownies my sister had snuck up.<p>

"I brought up three pairs of shorts and four shirts. It's not going to take me very long."

She rolled her eyes and sat herself on my bed (also known as the couch). "Your father wants to beat traffic."

"I'll do it."

"Did you have a good time this week?"

"Better than working." Not that she made me work hard, but it was the principle of the thing. "It was alright."

"Yeah?"

Since my mother was being all…I don't know, I nodded. "Yeah. You're all right. You had a good time?"

"I used to think I was going to have to start scheduling meetings with you and your father."

"Yeah, well, I was kind of an ass."

"And he was very hard on you. We were all…"

"If it was easy, anyone could do it," I said with a laugh. "The whole vacation thing was supposed to make you happy."

"I did," she promised. "It was good seeing you together. Seeing you all...I miss having you all together. You kids always seem to be busy nowadays."

"Things to do, vampires to kill."

"And your parents are obviously too old to understand."

I think I looked older than she did. With her half-grown out hair, held back by an assortment of clips, she looked younger than her mid-twenties. And I looked big. That's what Kara usually said. Big. Possibly with an exclamation point at the end.

"If I ever need advice on how to use a walker..."

"Pack, Levi," Mom ordered. And that was that.


	25. Chapter 25

A/N: I'm super busy next week, so I thought I'd get this up ahead of schedule.

* * *

><p>The first thing I did the Sunday my family got back was head to the Uleys. Saturday night I had wanted to drag Baxter out so he could tell me everything that had happened, but Judy had pouted, so I had left them making out on our front porch. Baxter must have been grateful because when I headed over there the next morning he greeted me without growling despite how early it was.<p>

We went for a patrol so he could give me mental notes—it was faster that way. There'd been no vampires and no major fights. Baxter was annoyed that Will "made it very clear he was following orders as a favour to Judy, not because he thought he had to,"but Will had followed orders and that was the important thing. Besides Will's bitching (apparently he was extra annoyed with me, too), the only thing worth mentioning was that Sam had been inspired by my crazy parents and was dragging the kids away next weekend.

_You going to be okay with that?_ I asked.

_I'm going to try to be._

_You can bring Judy with you, if you want. Your dad's been sucking up to her lately. I can't see him saying no._

_Judy comes and Francy might try to bring—maybe we could lose Kyle in the forest._

_They're official now?_

Baxter growled. _Yes. Brian says he's not so bad. Will says he won't last past September._

It was pretty obvious which piece of advice he was clinging to.

_Just avoid him. But bring Judy with you._

_I want to be able to talk to my father without my girlfriend around. Not that—that sounded bad. I didn't mean..._

_I know what you meant._ _So, since I got up early just for you, you want to give me breakfast?_

Baxter barked at me, but he let me follow him home.

Art was the only one still around (well, I could hear Francy changing in the bathroom). Sam and Brian were working and the twins were out for a run. Baxter and I arm-wrestled for the last of the toast; I won, of course.

"You'll leave me in charge for a week but you won't let me eat my food?" Baxter wondered.

"Something like that." I turned to his brother and Baxter made do with the cereal. "Hey, kiddo. What's new with you?"

"We had a gig. Sort of got paid for it, too."

"Tell me about it."

It sounded cool—I was sorry I had missed it. He said it was fine. He was giving music lessons now. Three students, which was three more than I could ever deal with. When Baxter explained one of those students was Danny, Baxter and I enjoyed a nice round of making fun of my sister's loser ex-boyfriend.

"You boys are being mean," Francy said as she came into the room wearing a skin tight shirt and pants that seemed even tighter. "I didn't know you got up this early, Levi."

"I missed Baxter so much I couldn't stay away."

Her brother flipped me off. Yeah, he'd grown on me.

"Where are you off to?" I asked her. There was a black bag on her shoulder stuffed full of...something.

"Yoga," she said, picking up the dirty dishes and putting them in the sink. "One of my old friends is teaching a class. I thought I'd be supportive. Do you remember Nancy?"

"Vaguely." She was one of her friends from the other reservation. "You need a ride?"

"You're going to love this," Baxter muttered.

His sister rolled her eyes. "I may have mentioned her class to Bertrand. And he may have gotten it in his head that yoga would be the perfect distraction for William. I think some guilt tripping ensued—"

"A little more than some," Baxter said.

"And William's in the class now."

I burst out laughing. The other three didn't. Oh. "Seriously?"

The silence confirmed it. Francine shrugged her shoulders. "Yoga improves coordination."

"Okay," I said, trying not to laugh again. "Sure. Okay, no. There's no way he'd do it."

"Well, he did last week and he should be here in a minute, so I guess he figured out a way."

"Bert really laid it on thick," Baxter said. "There were tears in his eyes at one point."

"And you agreed to it?"

"Nancy needs the people in her class." A rather wicked grin crossed Francy's face. "And you shouldn't underestimate the advertising potential of a tight, white t-shirt."

"That's not nice."

Her phone went off; she checked it and spoke without looking up.

"I'm sorry I'm shamelessly using your cousin's body."

"No, you're not."

"No, I'm not," she agreed pleasantly. "It's a shame he doesn't look like he did before he phased or she'd be set for life. But I guess we can't have everything. See you."

She kissed her brothers goodbye (even kissed me goodbye) and walked out of the room, waving her hand. As always, after I talked to her, my brain hurt. Historically, it worked the other way around; Will pissed them off, I reaped the benefits. Was she punishing me for turning her down? For getting back with Kara? Had Will told her—no. He wouldn't have done that. Besides, she HADN'T seemed mad at me. She seemed to be in a good mood, actually. Just a regular Sunday morning with her brothers...

"I've been brother-zoned? Is that what just happened?"

"At least she didn't go on about Kyle's—" Baxter's growl cut off the word. Thankfully.

"Some girls like it when they know for sure you're not interested in sleeping with them," Art offered.

"Brian said Kara talked to her. Or she talked to Kara," Baxter added. "Or something. She's not worried about you taking things the wrong way anymore, I think."

"Okay." Fine. I could deal with that. "I never took things the wrong way."

"You think her standing there is an invitation."

"Do not. I'm just a hands-on kind of guy."

"Yeah, well, maybe you shouldn't be."

"I'm trying," I admitted and Baxter's face softened just a tiny bit. I was. Baxter hadn't been great with just trying before, but he was changing, too. "But still: yoga?"

"Ask Bert."

In Baxter's anger, hidden when his sister had stood there, I understood. I wasn't imagining things. Will and yoga didn't go together, thank you very much. No one could think it would be a good idea. Bert—that son of a bitch.

"I think I will."

"Levi..." I knew Baxter's instincts were warring with each other. He looked after Bert. But, well, we might be blood brothers, but that did not make Will good enough for his sister. "Tell him I said hi."

"Sure. Though you know what I don't get?" I asked as I stood up. "We didn't have the six packs before we phased." Well, the others didn't.

"Will looked better with longer hair," Art said. "And phasing messed up his bone structure."

"Bone structure?"

"My sister has a lot of really loud friends," Baxter said with a shrug. "We pick up a lot of stupid things. Did you know you could probably have every girl in my grade, if you wanted?"

"Happy graduation day to me."

I couldn't help the grin. Baxter rolled his eyes. "I don't know why I put up with you."

"Because your girlfriend has you whipped. She should be up by now."

"I guess I should make sure you make it to Bert's safely."

Just thinking the kid's name reminded me: Yoga?

Yoga?

Seriously?

* * *

><p>It wasn't hard to track Bert down. It was the summer and he was working for his dad, but his father wasn't about to make him work a billion hours a week (Brian worked close to sixty, as did his sister—I wouldn't have been surprised if Will managed over a hundred, sometimes). I found the kid at home, playing video games. Since he was busy, I didn't interrupt. I just stood there and watched him play for a while.<p>

It didn't take him long to pause the game.

"Hey," he said quietly.

"Hey."

"Levi—"

"Yoga?"

The kid dropped his gaze and scooted back just a bit. "I can explain," he said very quickly.

"Sure you can."

"I can. I promise. I just—I mean, I have good reasons. And a pie chart. I can bring you the pie chart."

His fear amused me, but at the same time...

"Relax, kid. I'm not going to hurt you." He blinked. "Though ASK me next time you try to set my imprint up with someone else."

Instead of looking relieved, though, the kid just frowned. "You'd be okay with that?"

"I'd sleep with Will myself if I thought it would help."

Bert tried to shake the image out of his head. Then he laughed. "I should explain before—Brian's already come by and given me a speech on how it won't ever, ever work. You should save yours."

"All the Uleys know?" I had to protect the kid, after all. It was sweet how he kept trying to help Will. Stupid—and didn't I know how stupid—but sweet. The two of us had to stick together.

"Yeah. They're not _too_ pissed; I told them that Kyle might read too much into it."

"There are girls out there who don't have a billion brothers, a boyfriend and the world's most awesome imprinter. You know?"

"I know. I _was_ trying to find someone for Will. Only I wanted someone he liked and, well..."

"Yeah." Setting him up with Judy was a crime; there weren't many options after that. "Francy would probably be your best bet."

"Yeah, but—well, he won't talk about it, but I got the impression that Brian was right. He's not going to date Fran."

"Of course he'd find something wrong with her."

She was perfect (I wouldn't have imprinted on anyone who wasn't). Will was just doing it to annoy me.

"She lives in Seattle," Bert offered. "And Brian says it would have taken a lot to get him to date her before—but that it'll probably be a long while before he's okay with dating anyone from around here, let alone...Marley's friends."

Right.

"Anyway," Bert said, "I was considering her. And then I realized how complicated it could get. He doesn't need complicated. He needs relaxing. Calming. Soothing. He needs..."

When Bert trailed off, he was looking at me expectantly. Knowing I was supposed to fill in the blank and knowing what to fill it in with were two different things.

"Nancy?"

"Who?" Bert shook his head, disappointed I had failed. "Yoga."

"You're setting him up with yoga?"

Bert beamed. "Exactly. Only there was no way I was ever talking him into _that_. So everyone thinks what you thought and no one thinks it's going to work, but in the meantime Will's going to yoga class."

"Hold up. So..."

"Will thinks I'm trying to set him up with Fran. He's humouring me; he found the whole thing hilarious. I figured the laughter meant you wouldn't mind too much."

But the kid's fear suggested that he hadn't been sure. He hadn't known I wouldn't be pissed. He'd been determined enough that it didn't matter. I'd tell him it was sweet if it didn't annoy me so much.

"Why would she do it?"

"Why wouldn't she do it? She gets to annoy you, her brothers and Will all at the same time, and still be the good guy. She said she needed a ride, so why not? After last week she even came by here and said she thought he really liked it even if..."

"Yeah, Will's never going to say that out loud."

The kid shrugged. "But he's going. It'll be good for him."

"You're all right," I decided. At first, he didn't really seem to know what to do, but eventually he returned my grin. "And thanks for helping with Kara, too."

"She'd stick with you through anything, you know. If her Mom hadn't stepped in, you wouldn't even have had to apologize."

"I guess I should thank Kim then." The anger on the kid's face died away. I was glad it left, but gladder it had been there in the first place. "I'm going to issue a pack wide order, but I might as well tell you now. I'm doing something stupid to Kara and you tell me. Throw something at me, even."

"I can do that," Bert said far too calmly.

"Thanks, kiddo." Since I had things to do, people to see, I turned to leave. But as I was walking out, it occurred to me... "So you have Francy take Will to yoga and it helps him and all that. And if, even though it's a long shot, he decides to stop being an idiot and realizes she's kind of gorgeous in yoga pants..."

"Then you just finished saying you wouldn't mind."

His expression was calm, bland even. He was throwing my words back in my face, but he was calm about it.

I laughed. "I should be glad you're on my side, shouldn't I?"

Bert grinned. "Who said I'm on your side?"

* * *

><p>That night Brian and Will met me on the cliffs. For all Bert's scheming, the two of them were still getting along, so everything was good. I dropped to the earth. "How badly did you miss me?"<p>

"Did you really have to come back?" Will said. Considering I had suggested pimping him out and made him listen to Baxter, he didn't sound all that mad at me. Good.

"He cried every night," Brian assured me. "It was touching."

"How was the family bonding time?"

"It was okay. Kind of a little weird that people thought I was the same age as my parents...I don't want to see high school guys trying to hit on my mother."

"People always think my dad's Mom's mid-life crisis. Or that we're her sons," Will complained. "Or that we're having some weird three...people suck."

"I kind of like it," Brian said. "We make a cool looking progression. The stages of the Uley man."

"Nerd," Will said.

"You're just jealous," Brian said cheerfully. "How are things with Kara?"

"Good." We'd had a good afternoon catching up. Too many clothes, but still. At least she was there. "I was trying to figure out whether I had to make being nice to her an Alpha order."

"Yeah, Brian. Be nicer to her."

Brian didn't roll his eyes, which I think proved he was a saint. "He'll be nice, Levi. Don't worry about it."

"No, he won't."

"I like Kara," Will lied. I growled. He shrugged. I tried not to punch him in the face.

"She saw him put you through a wall and she's still willing to come within thirty feet of him," Brian said. "He hasn't been nearly as bad as_—_"

"Shut up, Brian," Will whined.

"Besides, I think I got it through his thick head that his fear of what you'd make us all do if you're single should outweigh his obsessive need to control who you date."

"Brian's afraid, too."

"Well, good, I guess." Was I supposed to be happy? I'd take it. "Now, did I miss anything interesting?"

From the way Will cracked up, I figured I was going to hear about yoga class. Brian wasn't nearly as amused, though he did seem... embarrassed?

"It's really not that funny," Brian said. But he phased and showed me.

_"I'm bored." Ginger cracks her gum; I've asked her to spit it out seven times and I've finally realized it's useless. "Like super, super bored. Like, I might as well just go home."_

_"Please, please go home."_

_I can't tell which twin it was, but Ginger just rolls her eyes. "Hey, Lassie? Get your other half to shut up."_

_Tommy flips her off, but moves his legs out of the way just before she tries kicking him in retaliation. Life would be much simpler if it wasn't raining and they could just throw sports equipment at each other. They'd lost most of our tennis balls last time, but we had some other stuff lying around._

_"Jacob Black has lots of cars lying around," Timmy says. "We could borrow one. Drive her home. Road trips are fun, Brian. Let's do that."_

_There's no one home, though. She hasn't seen her mother in days and I don't trust her sisters to look after her (I still haven't worked out if they live with her or not; I don't think she knows). She can't stay here, I know that (we don't even have room for us), but someone should be around for her during the day._

_"Knock it off," I order my brothers._

_I just wish Art were here. Or that the games she played with the twins didn't involve bloodshed. All three of them looked like they were enjoying the war games from earlier but, well, I could just see the inevitable broken bones. I probably should have gotten a different board game for the four of us to play; snakes and ladders isn't exactly cutting edge entertainment._

_Thankfully, the doorbell rings._

_"I've got it," Timmy announces, racing off. "Maybe someone's going to kidnap you."_

_"Here's hoping," Ginger calls after him. She leans over and pokes Tommy in the arm. Too hard. "He really likes Candyland that much, huh?"_

___"Princess Lolly is having an affair with Lord Licorice," Tommy explains. _Down the hall, I can hear Timmy's rapid fire speech, which, coupled with the rain, drowns out our guest entirely.__

_"Did you really just say that with a straight face?"_

_"Years of practice."_

_Timmy makes trumpet noises before he returns, bringing our guest. __Standing behind my youngest brother is Ester; she hadn't bothered with an umbrella, so she's soaked through. Her hair looks darker than usual, black as coal; her shirt might have been any shade of blue before but it's a dark navy now. The weight of the water is pulling it down._

_"You want me to get you dry clothes?" I offer after we say hello._

_"Don't waste your time. I think the drowned rat look works for me," she says. _

_"It really doesn't," Ginger mutters just loudly enough for everyone to hear. _

_"Ginger."_

_Ester ignores the both of us. "My mom's thing is tonight. So I was hoping for that recipe you promised me?"_

_"I'm sorry I didn't bring it over," I say, standing up. I was going to, right after I called Ginger, only she'd let it slip her mom was gone again and I'd gotten distracted. "It's in my room. Just let me grab it."_

_"Thanks."_

_"So who are you again?" Ginger asks. She doesn't like strangers. She _really _doesn't like strange girls. The twins she'll tolerate, but even Francy makes her edgy. She's around too many girls at home, I think._

_"Ester. I live down the street. And you're Ginger?"_

_"Art's ex-girlfriend," Tommy supplies. That's the story._

_"Who wouldn't leave," Timmy adds. _

_"Ester's a pretty ugly name," Ginger says. "Your parents must not like you much."_

_"Some days they do, some days they don't," Ester says easily. _

_I glance around my room, where the recipe is nowhere to be found. I know I wrote it out (before the twins had their latest adventure it was sitting right beside my bed). If I can't find it, I'm going to have to re-write Mom's recipe, which means calling Francy so she can hunt it down again, so I start searching. _

_"What is it you do, E? Must be hard holding a job when you're too dumb to open an umbrella."_

_"Rain never hurt anyone. __I clean after the tourists."_

_She leaves out the night classes she takes, guessing correctly that Ginger wouldn't be interested in that sort of thing. My imprint's bright, if not__ exactly school smart, but she really doesn't like school._

_"You saying you're good with trash?"_

_"I said I clean." If Ginger wants a fight, she's going to have to stick to the twins. "It's a job.__"_

_"It's not like you're going to win a wet t-shirt contest anytime soon."_

_"Ginny Weasley is having a bit of a day, today," Timmy explains. _I have no idea where that one came from (well, Ginger, Gin, Ginny, which is almost logical for Tim) but he's been busting it out all over the place. The punch I hear next might even be from Tommy and not Ginger. "Please forgive her."__

__"____Oh, shut up with stupid names already!"__

__"Sure, Ginger snaps. Get it?" he asks Ester.__

__"I make wonderful ginger snaps," Ester says over the sounds of Ginger trying to reach over Tommy to do something painful to my other brother. __

__"___Is this where we're supposed to bond?" Ginger, well, snaps. There's a reason it's Timmy's favourite._

_"If you don't mind, I think I'll go see what's taking Brian so long," Ester says mildly. _

_It's easiest if I just lift my bed, instead of reaching under the mattress. Everything's back in place by the time she opens the door. I hold out the scrap of paper, then grab a plastic bag from the floor and wrap it up. Better to keep out the rain. _

_"Here," I say. "I think that's it."_

_"Thanks." Her smile doesn't come as nearly as easily as it did when she got here. "I'll see you around."_

_"Sorry about her," I say as we walk towards the door. "I've made her stay indoors all day and she gets..."_

_"It's fine. Well, no, it's not fine. But her pubescent rage is not your fault."_

_"I can't get her to listen to me."_

_Ester's gaze is measured; if she can't guess more than she lets on, she sure knows how to make it seem like she does. I wonder just how much she sees. _

_"Tell her I'll teach her how to make ginger snaps, if she really does want us to bond." _

_I can only imagine her response to that. _

_"Let me make this up to you." _

_It's only fair, after all. She's soaked and shivering, shirt plastered to her, while my imprint goes after her because I wouldn't let them play Candyland after she suggested making it a drinking game. Ginger goes after everyone. Frankly, even though I've been trying to keep them apart as much as possible, I have no idea how Dinah hasn't killed her yet. Part of me almost wants Ginger to learn she might one day go after someone she doesn't intimidate, but it's a tiny part. I do want her alive._

_"Are you saying you'd like to make me ginger snaps?"_

_"I could learn, if that's what you wanted." I grin and she's smiling back. Her front teeth come out and gently press into her lower lip as she thinks, the white of her teeth set off against the bright red. The cold's made her flush; her lips are always red._

_"Take me to dinner Friday."_

_I really do mean to say something when I open my mouth, even though I'm not sure what. Nothing comes out. _

_"Think about it," Ester says. "Thanks for the recipe."_

_And she opens the door herself (I really did mean to get it for her, but I'm not as quick on my feet as I should be) and disappears into the downpour. _

_"Close the door," Timmy calls down the hall. Right. I do that. _

_When I get back to the kitchen, Ginger grins at me. In that second, she's not the monster that won't behave. She's the sweet girl who makes everything around me make sense._

_"You should get on that," Ginger says. "But if she makes me cookies, I'm going to punch the bitch."_

I thought that somewhere out there was an imprint fairy who really hated Brian Uley. I kept that observation to myself and decided to focus on the important questions for now.

"Does this mean you have a date?" When no one answered, I realized, "You STILL haven't gotten back to her?"

"I can't say yes, Levi. Not when—I couldn't manage with Dinah and she was helping me with everything. No way can I...I can't take care of my family and date. Especially not with Ginger—she's home for the summer. And if she's there all by herself, she's going to—I don't know. But it won't be good."

"You don't have to explain to us what she'll do, Brian," Will said. "We've got a better idea than you do."

"So I can't." But since he sounded like he was trying to convince himself, I decided that was as good as an invitation.

"Your dad's a bit better. Your sister's home. Baxter's pulling his weight. More than his weight. So you've got everything under control. Maybe you deserve to relax every so often."

"Levi," Brian said slowly, "The point of female friends isn't so you can help your friends get laid. Right? You get that?"

Will snorted. At least, that was all I think he meant to do. When he ended up full on giggling, I think it was an accident. I still punched him. Bastard.

"The point, Brian," I said in my best commanding voice, "Is that you didn't say no. And you haven't said no. So, I start wondering, do you want to say no? And if you don't want to say no, then why can't you say yes?"

"He really does talk like a five year old."

"Told you."

"Shut up," I ordered them. "Seriously, Brian. Do you like her?"

"I...what do you mean?"

"Can you have a fucking conversation with her that doesn't make you want to stab yourself in the eye with a pencil?"

Brian had to answer: "I guess. Yeah."

"Well, then. Buy her dinner. It's not like you have to propose to her."

Will finally decided to help out: "At this point, the invitation might not stand anymore."

"There's that," Brian said, looking far too cheered.

"You both suck." I kicked at Will's leg for good measure.

"If Ginger finds out—"

"You really think she'll care?" Will wondered.

Ginger was too busy trying to keep track of her love life to worry about anyone else's. Even Brian's. She liked Brian, we were pretty sure of it, but she only barely put up with him. She barely put up with any of us (except maybe Art; she had a soft spot in her cold dead heart for him).

"Fine," Brian said. "I'll...just dinner. Dinner can't hurt."

It came out more of a question and Will didn't look all that convinced either, but I nodded, so that was that.


	26. Chapter 26

A/N: I was asked if I'd ever considered making Dinah and Judy twins. Back when I was developing the characters for this story, the Twilight Guide hadn't come out yet (how long has it taken me to write this?), so I didn't know there were so many twins in Jacob's family. Rachel and Rebecca were part of the reason I made Emily's kids twins, in a vague sort of, oh, twins ! let's use that kind of way when I was writing _SHM _and was planning out Sam's life. Rebecca does have a set of twins in this continuity, though references to them have always ended up edited out, I think.

I did consider making Leah have multiples at one point. But I knew I wanted Sam/Emily to have a big family and as this story shows the more characters I have the more I get distracted. Whoops. If there were more sets of twins we would never get anywhere.

Ester's name should be Esther, but I keep writing it without the h (sort of how I kept calling Brian Brain for a while there) so it was easier to make it consistently Ester (I think I changed them all now).

After this week, things calm down for me so I'll have more time to write. Updates should be once a week.

* * *

><p>After dinner with Kim, I don't think it was unreasonable that I took Kara for a walk in the woods. I found us a very comfortable log (it would do), and proceeded to pull her into my lap.<p>

"Thank you," she said. Well, if she wanted to do that, and kiss my neck and snuggle closer, she was very welcome.

"At least she feeds me well between all the glaring. That I deserve," I added quickly. Because it was true and because my girlfriend definitely didn't want to hear me talking shit about her mother.

"But you remembered to use a fork this time."

Kara was far too amused by herself; but, okay, she was cute when she giggled.

"You forget one time," I complained, just to watch her laugh some more. "There's no forks at the Uleys on Friday. But you're still coming, right?"

"Yeah."

"Good." Brian had his date. Francy had to work. It would make them feel better if someone besides Sam was with the kids. Since I wasn't exactly the most responsible person on the planet, hopefully Sam wouldn't feel too upset that they were still keeping an eye on him. "I have to do something to thank Baxter for not messing up everything too badly. Food is always the way to go."

"You sound proud."

"Don't you dare tell him that," I threatened her. It just made her press closer, so I guess I had to work on my threatening voice.

"So everything's good with the pack?"

I could sense that it was important to her that I answer, though I wasn't exactly keen on...still. It was what she wanted. How bad could it be? "Well, Will's pissed at me. But that's nothing new."

"Oh." That was much less cute. "Because of something I—?"

"Nah. Please. He refuses to think about you." Shit. "In a good way."

"Why is mad at you?"

"I kind of bailed on him. To go on vacation."

"For, like, ten days."

"You know, aside from when he phased, I don't think we've ever been apart that long." Kara blinked. "Not that—he's mad because I promised him we'd talk about Marley and that's just going to end up...so he's pissed, I guess. I don't know. I don't know why he even wants to bother."

"Because he still misses her. Because you both still miss her. Because only together do you make a single emotionally healthy human being."

The last part came out a bit too annoyed for her to play it off as a joke, but I pretend it was, anyway. "That's only mostly true."

"You don't talk about her."

"She's dead. What's there to talk about?"

"I don't know. I think it sounds like a good idea, though."

"You have nicer breasts than she does," I said, staring down the loose t-shirt she was wearing (no sweaters in the summer, thank goodness). It would have been a close competition and maybe love was blinding me, but I thought Kara would win. Would have won. "And hers were pretty damn fantastic."

"Levi..." But when I caught her eye, she just gave me a small smile. "When you wouldn't let us double date, she made sure we walked home together a couple of times. We didn't have a lot to talk about, so mostly she just made fun of both of you. A lot, actually. She was pretty funny. Once she said of course you adored me. You were most definitely a breast man."

I was usually a as-long-as-you're-breathing man, but if I had to pick...

Kara continued, "I think it might make me a bad person that I think about her saying that every time you're with Fran."

I couldn't help the laughter. "She was right." Of course, she was right. Marlena was brilliant. "You should remember that. I love you, but your boobs—I am obsessed with your boobs. They're, like, perfect. I could never leave your boobs."

Kara blushed, but there was a pleased little smile on her face. "Thanks."

"Thank you," I echoed. For what? For the low cut shirt. "How about I show you just how right she was?"

"Levi?" That wasn't a yes. "I think you probably should talk to him."

"We talk enough as it is." Not lately, really, but enough.

"All those stories about Dad you tell me sometimes? And the ones you get your parents to tell me? They…I didn't know Dad enough to miss him, before. And that's the part that used to make me sad. But hearing all that stuff about him? That made me…it was like he was there. And that was nice." Kara shook her head. "I'm explaining this badly."

"Did it make you stop missing him?"

"No. Moms still cries on, like, his birthday and stuff. But when we talk about him, it makes her stop crying."

"Hard to cry and talk at the same time."

"Levi."

She regarded me steadily. Right. I was being a good boyfriend, not a jackass. "I'm sorry. I am trying to nicer to your mom."

"You're missing the point," she said with a sigh. "Probably on purpose."

"Nah. The thickhead is hereditary."

Kara rolled her eyes. "Come on, I'm getting cold."

I think that was her way of saying I wasn't funny.

* * *

><p>Will worked a bazillion hours a week and had patrol and Benjamin (not to mention yoga classes, now; that was never not going to be funny), so I really wasn't avoiding him. It was just hard to find a time when he wasn't busy. He wasn't even really pissed, just annoyed with me in the general way he was annoyed with everyone (so I was part of the crowd now; it didn't bother me. It didn't).<p>

But Kara was giving me dirty looks now, too.

I guess that was her family thing.

It wasn't that she liked Will, obviously. And no one on the planet would say he'd be good for someone's emotional health. So I did not understand why she was suddenly on his side.

The dirty looks got to me, though. So I dragged myself over one night.

It wasn't nearly so bad as I imagined. I don't know what I'd been expecting, but I'd kind of been afraid that he'd be like he'd been—well, he wasn't like he'd been when we found out she was gone. He was more amused that I thought he wanted to be all touchy feely than anything. We just sat around and talked for a while and if I occasionally mentioned his imprint's ability to wear V-necked shirts, well, it would have been a shame not to mention it.

Will called me an idiot on the way out the door, so I figured we were good. And Kara wouldn't be pissed anymore, so that was better.

When I'd gotten to his house it was late; by the time I got home it was way later. So I was surprised to find Dinah sitting on the couch, flipping through the TV.

"You're up."

"You're tall," she shot back. "How are you?"

"Fine."

She didn't move over so I could sit down, but I was pretty good at shoving her out of the way. "Your squealing is going to wake up Judy."

"I don't squeal. And she's still out with Baxter; I doubt she's coming home. She does know Mom and Dad are going to kill her, right?"

"Art's there. They're not doing anything."

"Our parents are still going to kill her."

"Only if they find out."

Sam was desperate enough to have the whole family vacation thing work out that he probably wouldn't say anything, even if he did catch her. I would have ordered Judy to knock it off, but she sometimes had nightmares (bloody dreams that I wish I hadn't asked to see, frankly) and apparently my beta was good at helping with them. Plus, she'd look sad if I told her to stop.

Dinah rolled her eyes at me. "Were you ever going to tell me Brian had a date last week?"

"I figured he'd back out at the last minute." Okay, so that was bullshit and Dinah deserved better than that. "I thought he'd tell you."

"Of course he told me," Dinah snapped. "That's not the point."

"What's the point then?" It came out angrier than I intended it to. Sometimes I forgot, watching over the others, that I was probably more dangerous than all of them. I stood up because I had to. "I just had a really shitty night, Di. Just make sense, okay?"

"You okay?"

"I'm FINE. You don't get to be mad at him."

"It's a free country. My emotions can be whatever they damn well please." Dinah dropped it after she made her point. "I told him I was happy for him. Reminded him to wear a clean shirt. Said he probably shouldn't take her out to dinner."

"She loves food."

Dinah rolled her eyes. "If even you can figure it out, Levi, then it's not very special, now is it?"

"You sound more pissed at me than him."

"Because you annoy me and Brian's the best," she said with a shrug. "I want him…I hope it goes well. Ester wouldn't be my first pick for Brian, but she's not bad. If you ignore the possibly stoned bit."

"Nah." Though it was why we got along, I think. "She better not be. She's never offered to share."

My big sister glared at me. Right, right. I wasn't allowed to joke about doing drugs anymore. Whatever. I could wait her out. Kara'd been making me practice listening, or some crap like that. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine."

"You look like shit."

"You always say that." A horrible, creepy thought suddenly struck me. "Are you up to check on me?"

"Since when do I want you sharing your stupid little feelings with me?" Dinah asked. She was blushing, though.

"I hate my life," I decided as I wrapped an arm around my sister's shoulders and let her hit me in the face with a pillow. But when crap continued to play on the television, I may have muttered, "It felt like we were missing two different people."

"With Brian I could be..." Dinah didn't want to finish that. "You're different with different people."

"Marley wasn't like that."

"Everyone's like that. Some people are worse; I want to smack Francy sometimes. But everyone's...you're far less annoying around Judy then you usually are."

I shook my head. I was always me. There was no reason to make it complicated and confusing. Just be you.

Marlena had always been her. I hadn't recognized Will's Marley, though. Not really. Maybe it was just because time was passing and I couldn't remember any more. I couldn't remember what she sounded like or the way she moved, not exactly. I guess Bert was right to worry.

"I think," Dinah said slowly, "People are too...much for you to remember all of them. So you end up remembering certain parts, your favourite parts, your least favourite parts...but you can't keep all of someone else inside of you."

"What's that from? Grief for Dummies?"

"You wrote a book and didn't tell me?"

"Shut up, Di. Just..."

She hit me with the pillow again. Good. I could handle that.

* * *

><p>The Uley family vacation happened.<p>

It really wasn't all that bad. Sure, it sort of rained most of the weekend so Francine wasn't the happiest of people, but she was good at shutting up, so she didn't talk about how miserable she was until they got back home and she couldn't stop talking about how much she missed being able to blow dry her hair.

Art was in a mood, some sort of artistic temper tantrum or something, because at some point he wandered away and Baxter and Brian had to track him down. It might not have been so bad if Baxter hadn't already been looking for a fight, trying so hard not to be angry that he was angry, so instead of bringing Art back, my two wolves just fought it out. Scared the kid a bit, but it worked out okay.

By the time they got back, Francy had managed to calm Timmy and Tommy down from their really annoying phase so they were actually entertaining and they set about having fun. I really did think they had fun; Brian and Baxter made it seem like they did.

Sam wouldn't have been in such a funk afterwards if they hadn't had a good time.

It wasn't that noticeable, really, except that Baxter seemed to have expected it. Will stopped picking up quite so many extra shifts and took Sam to more meetings and Brian asked me to take him off the patrol schedule entirely, just for a little while. Sam got through it. It was the best we could hope for.

Judy would help Baxter (Bert, too). I'd take Brian.

His date had gone well enough that I decided it meant he should ask Ester out again. To my surprise, Brian didn't even put up a fight when he agreed. They went out a couple times.

Then, because Brian wasn't allowed to catch a break, his imprint went missing.

* * *

><p>I was working for Mom when I heard the howling, which meant I gave her a wave and took off to the forest. The second I phased, I asked Brian where he was.<p>

_It's not that kind of emergency,_ Brian said quickly. _I just need you guys here as quickly as possible._

_Where are the vampires?_ Bert asked as he joined us. Brian should have waited until we were all there or he'd just have to keep repeating himself, but he was too freaked to think.

_Ginger's gone._

_I thought she wasn't coming over today,_ Baxter said as he came in.

_She wasn't. She was supposed to come over tomorrow so I called only she wasn't answering her phone. _Brian forced down the panic. _I finally managed to talk to Vick—she talked to Ginger Tuesday._

It was Friday.

_Did you ask Art?_ Judy suggested. We were all running to join Brian, even if we couldn't do anything with our paws. Being together would help.

_He says he doesn't know._

_You think he's lying? _Baxter said. He had to be the one; Uleys wouldn't stand for it if someone else talked about their brother that way.

_He knows more than he's saying. He just said he was sure she was home Wednesday because she complained that all they had was canned corn. She hates corn, even when it's on the cob, but she says the stuff in the can—_

_Brian, _Will interrupted, having finally shown up, _I think I'm missing stuff, but to recap—your imprint disappeared, hopeful ran away from home, and has a somewhat sizeable lead on us?_

_Yeah,_ Brian said.

_Then maybe we could save the reminiscing._

_Okay,_ I decided, _I don't know if we'll be able to track her, but Judy and I'll head to her place, see if we can get lucky. Bert, head back to work. No sense in all of us cutting out. Let Di know what's up. Baxter, you want to try tackling Art? He might talk to you._

_Maybe I should,_ Judy suggested. _Or Levi. I don't—_

_It's fine,_ Baxter told her. _If we haven't found her by dinner, you can try playing good cop then._

_Be nice, Bax. I'm sure he's just trying to help her._

_Brian, you are going to go home._ I ignored his protests. _You are going to go home, take a hot bath or something, and be totally calm by the time Will gets there. Which will be..._

_Twenty to thirty minutes,_ my cousin supplied. Give or take how long his boss yelled at him for flaking.

_There's only so many ways she could leave. You listen to Will, you figure out what she'd be most likely to do. Then we start tracking down leads. Okay?_

_Do we want to call the cops?_ Baxter asked.

The idea was unappealing. We were supernaturals; we operated better without people to tell us what to do. Ginger might have been a brat, but she was our brat. We'd take care of her.

_She'd hate that,_ Brian said. _Her mother might kick her out if it wasn't... _But he was considering it. He'd consider anything if it made her safer.

_I'll talk to Art first,_ Baxter suggested when he saw the way Will and I were barely keeping from saying anything. _See if we're going to need outside help._

_Alright,_ I decided. _We'll do that. Let's go people._

Bert took a second to say to me, _Dinah'll bring in Fran. She knows the others there better. Is there something you want me to tell Kara?_

_We might not get to go on our date tonight._

Bert didn't say anything, but he managed to say quite a lot while saying nothing.

_I'll call her if we can't pick up a scent._

_I'll remind you in an hour,_ Bert said and then phased out.

* * *

><p>Since we had to grab some clothes first, it took my sister and me awhile to make it to Ginger's house. We slipped through the backdoor, though I didn't think any of the neighbours would say anything if they saw us. The house was locked, but nothing a good turn of the handle couldn't fix. Ten to one that no one ever noticed.<p>

The scents in the house were faint, which wasn't a good sign.

"Can you find her mom's scent around here at all?" I asked Judy.

"She has a new boyfriend," Judy said. "She's not around a lot."

"Think that's why Ginger took off?"

"I don't think she minds when they leave her alone. Sheesh. Lot of guys coming in here."

Pun not intended.

I'd slept with both of Ginger's sisters at some point, but I did not mention that to my little sister. The middle one was my kind of girl, or my old kind of girl; more than a little out of control but without the psychotic edge that Will preferred. I didn't think Mel lived here anymore though. She just came by for the food (and whatever else Ginger's mom had lying around). I could barely pick up Vick's scent; she hadn't been here in a long while, not even to crash. Brian would be glad to know that, at least.

"We should check her room. See what she's taken with her."

When I showed what we were seeing to Brian, he said she'd grabbed a bag and at least a few shirts. There was guilt starting to creep in, wondering if he'd done something to set her off. Art wasn't talking. Francine and Dinah were calling around, trying to find someone who knew something; Brian and Will were starting on the list.

I called Kara and got her to head over to the Uleys to watch over the twins. Francy was still at work and the last thing we needed was for them to tip Sam off that something was wrong. Not with him so unhappy lately. "My cousin should be there, too," I said. "Just a heads up."

"You want me to babysit Will?"

I laughed; it felt good to laugh. "Benji. He should be with the twins; unless they've burried him somewhere. Make sure they don't, okay? Will hates it when they do that."

"Okay."

"He's hyper but he's not—just don't give any of them sugar."

"Somehow, I doubt it'll be that easy."

"You'll do great. I got to go. Love you."

"Love you, too."

Judy was already a wolf. Since she was almost normal sized, she stayed on all fours, tracking, while I pretended to be walking her through the town. It didn't take long for her to stop at the side of the road. Yeah, I figured that would happen.

* * *

><p>Francine managed to get us a name of someone who might know something and with a little bit of Judy's charm and my bulging biceps, we managed to confirm Ginger had gotten a ride to Port Angeles with some friend who'd been visiting one of Mel's many exes. The desperation in Brian's eyes got us some more info on the guy (Brian didn't need to know we should be a little nervous about the friend, so I let Will...explain that to the ex for a little while). He gave us his friend's address. Since Art had been very unforthcoming, Baxter was free, so I sent him with Brian and Will to the city.<p>

_We'll find her,_ Baxter promised. He did reassuring well.

_Port Angeles isn't small. _Brian had calmed down a bit. To Will, he said, _I thought you wanted to run away to Seattle._

_You think I didn't have a backup plan? _More like twelve. _Stop worrying and run faster._

If there was no way they could pick up her scent or track her down when they got there, they'd call me and I'd go to the cops. I wasn't exactly looking forward to it. Judy and I practised the speech until I didn't sound TOO shifty before we headed to the Uley house.

The twins were using Kara as some sort of slave girl (which sounded like fun, actually, even if their imaginations weren't nearly as good as mine) when I got there. Benji was curled up in the corner with some electronic game, so I went to say hey, while my sister went to see if Baxter had left Art breathing.

"Levi?" Judy's worried voice stopped even the twins. She had the attention of all five of us, even if Benji didn't understand what was going on (I hoped). "He's not there."

"What do you mean he's not there?"

I might have glared at the twins, who jumped back. Kara tried to untangle herself from the sheet they had dressed her up in; she gave it up as an impossible job.

"He was here when I got here. He said he wanted to be left alone," Kara explained.

"The windows," Timmy offered. It was the fewest words I think I'd ever heard him say at one time. It was all the explanation I needed. The Uley house was far too easy to get in and out of.

"Is his guitar still there?" Tommy asked.

"And a blackish notebook with a couple stickers on it," Timmy said. "A couple gold stars and this really big sticker of a green bunny rabbit."

Judy disappeared inside the room, while Kara looked miserable. "I'm so sorry, Levi. I didn't..."

"I told you to watch these idiots." The twins scowled, muttered something about the swear jar, but fuck them. "Not that one. Baxter should have caught this."

"They're not there," Judy called.

"He takes off to play in the forest sometimes," Timmy explained. "Don't worry about it. It's nothing."

Judy came out of the room holding his phone. She looked a little guilty and she wouldn't hand it over to me, but she started looking through it. Eventually, she found something.

_ray is 2 cute liar  
>but not letting me hav the bed :(<em>

It was from last night.

"How the hell did Baxter fuck this up?" I asked the universe. Judy answered.

"I told you not to send him. Not on official pack business!"

My sister took a step back, her nails digging into her palms (the scent of blood in the air) so she could calm down.

"What's wrong with that?" I asked, gently. I didn't want her to lose control. Not when Brian was already so close.

"We aren't official pack business," Tommy muttered.

Timmy realized his brother's words required an explanation. "I mean, we understand that werewolves good—yay! werewolves forever—but it's kind of maybe sort of slightly just the tiniest bit, well, not irritating or crappy or anything like that but, really, kind of not the most not annoying thing either that everything, well, not everything but the majority of everything, especially all the food, goes towards the werewolves. You know? No? We didn't think so."

"In English, please?"

"It's not the most fun thing being the useless human in the supernatural movie." Timmy shrugged. "We know we're just going to die in the third act to motivate you guys to fight harder, or something."

"Speak for yourself," Tommy said.

"Nothing's going to kill you guys," I promised.

"Yeah, but whether we get killed or not won't really have anything to do with us, you know? No?"

"No," I said to my little sister.

She offered a tentative, "Maybe Art really wouldn't like it if Baxter came in here demanding that he needed to know stuff just because the pack said so."

"What did you guys say now?" Francine asked as she came into the house, carrying bags of groceries. "Thank you, Benjamin, for your help." I think that wasn't for him; the twins went to help her put away stuff too. "I figured dinner would be a nice way to thank you all for finding her. And you'd be less likely to get into fights about why she ran away if you ate first."

Finally, she stopped bustling around and looked at me. She didn't like what she saw. "What now?"

So I told her she had yet another idiot brother. She said, "Why would Ginger go to Ray?"

"You know the guy?"

Francine shrugged. "Well, the only Ray Arthur knows in Port Angeles is the one who used to give him guitar lessons. It could be a different guy; I don't know why Ginger would head to him."

I'd heard he'd left town, but hadn't actually known where he ended up.

"He promised Art could crash if..." Judy thought it over. "Maybe she figured the invitation was for both of them? I don't think he'd turn Ginger onto the streets if she just showed up. And he wouldn't know who to call about her, either."

Marley's ex was all right, all things considered. Better for her than the rest of us had been. He'd never really struck me as the type of guy who'd go for a thirteen year old, either, which was a bit of a relief.

"Okay," I agreed just to move onto the important part. "Do we have an address?"

"I'll look through the phone," Judy offered.

"William will know," Francy said. "Guys, don't put those away. I need them for the tacos tonight."

My cousin did know. They hadn't made it to Port Angeles yet, but when they did, they now had two addresses. They'd find her.

"What about Art?" Kara asked when I phased back.

"Find him, please?" Francy said. "So when my father gets home in ten minutes I'm not lying when I say I know where everyone is."

"Yeah. Jubes?"

"I'll call Bert. Three trackers are better than one."

"Levi?" Francy halted me, while Judy raced off. "Maybe leave him in the forest until after Ginger's gotten back? I don't think I can keep them from getting mad at both of them."

"You're assuming Brian won't kill Ginger on sight."

"I hope they'll remember not to let him get too close," my imprint said softly. Judy was outside; I didn't think she'd heard.

"Baxter's got it," I promised. He was always careful about keeping humans safe. Will was paranoid, but Baxter was more than that. It was like his personal mission statement. For a long time, I would have said it was just because it would have ruined his self-righteous anger at his dad. That was me being a jerk. The kid was all right.

"Okay," she said quietly. "And, yes, my brother made a mistake. But don't be too hard on him, okay?"

I grunted, hoped she took it as a yes, and then went to track down my second stupid kid of the day.


	27. Chapter 27

fancypants: I didn't look around for family tree websites. That one came recommended and I found it easy to use so I stuck with it (pretty computer challenged here, so if I can use it most people should be able to). There were some small annoyances (though it's been a while, so I can't be very specific; there was a problem making people related if they were already on the tree, related in a different way, I think; I did manage eventually). I don't know if I would recommend it for a real family tree, since that's not what I used it for, but for projects like this, definitely.

* * *

><p>The kid hadn't managed to get far enough to escape the werewovles. He'd only had a couple of hours and his guitar wasn't the lightest thing around. He made it further out then I thought; we still found him pretty damn fast.<p>

_How do we handle this one?_ I asked Bert and Judy.

_You should, _Judy decided after a long while. _I've tried—I can't find the right thing to say. _

_He barely knows me_, Bert said. _But if he needs__—I can step in if you start making it worse._

_I'm not going to make it worse,_ I said as I phased back. I'd grabbed the pair of shorts I'd been carrying in my mouth, slipping them on and headed over.

Arthur had found a fallen long deep in the woods; he'd pulled out his guitar and had it resting on his leg, flashlight at his foot. His fingers weren't making music, though; they ghosted over the strings, but didn't make a sound.

"Tag," I said as I came up behind him. He jumped, but there was no surprise on his face. "You're it."

"You go hide and I'll start counting."

"Nice try." I settled down beside him on the log. "You want to tell me what the fuck this is about?"

No answer.

"Your brothers are going to flip when they find out, you know." I wasn't very good with being ignored. "You talk to me or I throw you over I drag you back and you talk to them. Your sister's waiting for you."

"Could you—" Puberty was a bitch; his voice cracked. He coughed it out. "Can't you order them not to talk about it?"

"You don't want to explain to her that you took advantage of Brian's missing imprint to take off?"

"Ginger said—" He laughed, quietly. "She said even if the world was ending, someone would miss me. It took you guys two whole hours."

"We were a little busy." I kept my annoyance in check. Mostly. "This was a test?"

"It wasn't anything. Did you—you know where she is, right?"

"Ray's?" When the kid nodded, I demanded, "And you couldn't have just told us?"

"She told me not to."

"If someone tells you to jump off a bridge, would you do it?"

"You would," the kid muttered.

"I'm indestructible!" I stood up, pacing. When Judy and Bert crept forward, I waved them off. I had this. I was pissed, but I had this. Besides, they had to make sure the others knew where to find her. "And you're a dumbass."

"She didn't think anyone would worry. I think it'll be good to prove her wrong." Art flinched, like he knew what a stupid thing to say that was.

"Ginger freaked Brian out. You let her freak him out. If I told Brian you were gone on top of everything, he'd have absolutely lost it. Your dad is going to bitch the hell out of all of us for not telling him sooner. This is not cool, kid."

"I'm sorry."

The kid looked miserable; I knew real guilt when I saw it (well, I knew the fake stuff—this wasn't the shit I pulled). It even made me try to pat the kid on the back, even if he jerked away.

"What the hell's the deal between the two of you anyway?"

"I'm her," Art swallowed, "Best friend. She's got a lot of friends but she doesn't—she's good to talk to."

"Clearly she's been helping you."

"Shut up," he muttered. "She has. And she helps Brian."

"Driving him closer to suicide does not count as helping."

"She's been trying to help him improve his game. She's very unimpressed with the way he's going about dating Ester. Says she expected more from an Uley."

I snorted. "Poor Brian. He can't win."

"She's rooting for him. Thinks he'll hover less if he's getting some."

"That's what she said?"

"Yup."

"I can't believe I agree with her about something."

"She's kind of smart, in a way."

"What does she think is wrong with you?"

"She doesn't," the kid said softly. "She'd have called me if Ray'd kicked her out; he wouldn't. He offered cuz...he's good people. She made me promise to wait until tonight to tell you. I cheated. But she made me promise and she's...I promised."

"You're an idiot," I told him. "But I get it. You can do better, though."

"When we broke up, she told me I was never going to do better than her." His smile was fond and even if I didn't get it, it was obviously sincere. I guess I wasn't the person to complain about picking stupid people to be co-dependant with. Not that I let it stop me.

"Ginger's an idiot. I've known a lot of girls like her and—"

"You don't know anything about her," he said sharply.

"I know she made your brother flip out and he doesn't deserve that. I know she's a pain in the ass." But the kid still looked pissed with me. "I don't know her. But I don't like what she did. I don't care why she did it. So, yeah, she's an idiot."

"A little bit," he said, eventually.

"And you are..."

"Also an idiot. But no one minds if I play here, so...I just, I keep hearing this thing in my head—"

"Sign of mental illness. Or drugs."

"It's just a song," he explained. Like he wasn't weird. "Only I can't—I was hoping coming out here would make it easier to hear."

"What's it about?"

"I don't know yet." But he was lying.

All music was about sex or drugs or dogs and since Art was a Uley... "Is it about Ginger?"

"No," he said, like I was the crazy one.

"There's another girl? Excellent. I was worried that you had crappy taste."

Art squirmed miserably.

"There's definitely someone. You want me to use code names? Like we're in junior high? Call her Minnie Mouse, or something stupid like that?"

"I don't really want to talk about this, Levi."

"Yeah, well, I didn't want to talk about my cousin's dead girlfriend that I spent a year trying to sleep with despite her being probably my cousin. That was an awkward conversation. But apparently it was good for me, so. What are we calling her?"

He hesitated, so I growled. "Lola," he said finally. "L-O-L-A, Lola."

"I can spell," I muttered. "So is she hot? Pretty? At least Funny?"

"Not really funny. Not uptight or anything, just...serious about stuff. A good listener. A good good ear...thinks I'm pretty good, though I should go a little easier on the country influence."

"You are good."

"Thanks." The kid fiddled with his guitar; strumming seemed to help. "Really nice to me. Always feeds me, but doesn't ask about Dad, just...gets it. Shows me these really dumb videos but—"

"You laugh anyway?"

"Yeah. Beautiful eyes, too. And lips." Art was bright red at that point.

"She not like you back?"

"I—I don't know. I hope—but I don't know. I think…Lola wanted to—or—I don't know."

"Well, right here I should probably put in a disclaimer about how you should ask and all that jazz. But, kid, sometimes grabbing the girl and kissing her gets your point across best."

"I don't want to grab..."

"Okay. Well, it might take a little longer, but if you think she's feeling you, just give it time. I have it from a good source that everyone around here wants to date Uleys."

"The thing is, I don't know if..."

"You always know," I insisted. "It may come out in weird ways and you might not want to deal with the whole dating them afterwards thing, but you always know. The obsessing over her lips is a clue."

"And if I phase..."

"It gets complicated," I admitted. Though it wasn't bad enough to justify the terror in his voice. "But the chances of you phasing are slim to none, kid."

"You guys don't know why it happens."

"It's something to do with vampires. We won't go looking for them," I promised the kid right then. I had to, seeing how scared he was. "And they aren't dumb enough to come here. Not on our land. So you won't phase. Okay?"

Arthur nodded.

"You mind waiting out here until everything back there calms down?"

Since it was what he wanted, the kid agreed fast enough. He even asked, "You want me to play for you?"

"If you want to."

He started playing something vaguely familiar, though I couldn't place it without hearing the words. He could talk and play at the same time. "Ginger said you went with Mel for a while."

"I dated her for a couple months. Well, sort of dated. We got along really well and were sort of exclusive." Sort of. Didn't stop her from bringing the drama, though. But it had been...we'd had a lot of good times, actually, me and Mel.

"She said Mel said...that one time Will was..."

"Dead to the world." It was the truth. "He was a mess that night. On painkillers 'cuz of his arm, so I probably shouldn't have spiked his drink. It made him a little...I had to keep an eye on him. But Mel...have you ever met her?"

"A few times."

"Yeah. Why would I turn that down? Will doesn't remember a thing about that night." I was mad at the kid, but I didn't want him dead. I warned him: "He gets really bitchy when people bring it up."

"He gets bitchy when people bring up a lot of things."

I snorted. "You going to say that to his face?"

The fear that flashed in Art's eyes would have made Will happy, I think. Less bitchy, at any rate.

So I was surprised when he didn't let it go. "So despite what everyone says about you guys...?"

"That's fucking weird, kid. I mean, we have gone one-two a few times and there was that one chick we—and I should probably shut up right about now." Will was going to kill me. If the Uleys didn't do it first. "Don't tell your family—"

"We're not as close as your family," Art said prissily.

Considering I'd tracked him down in a forest, the guy could have been a little bit nicer to me.

* * *

><p>By the time we got back to the house, it was dark. I carried the guitar, which he was very thankful for.<p>

"I thought drums were your thing."

"You ever try carrying a drum kit on your back?" The kid gave me a smile. "I'm still learning, so I brought it with me."

He was explaining how to play a guitar by the time we got to his street. Brian or Baxter must have heard us because we weren't half way down the block before the door to his house opened. The twins let Sam go first, but they were crowding around him and Baxter was getting in on the action, too, hovering just as badly.

"He just went for a badly timed walk," I said, but Sam glared at me. I was going to be in so much shit with him later. I'd deal.

"We're going for a walk," Francine announced, hooking her arm around her brother's shoulders. When Brian made to step after her, she added, "Some place without werewolves. Please?"

The twins finally had their twin thing back because when Brian nodded, he seemed to understand. "Come on," he said to me. "We've got food. And Ginger."

I could hear her as we got closer to the house.

"So Baxter hates me now, too, and the twins are super pissed and Brian's all mopey."

"Maybe you should try not being a dumbass," Ester's voice barely carried, but she didn't sound mad. She didn't sound like she was paying attention, frankly.

"Harsh, E. I was just having fun; they don't have to be so bitchy about it."

Ester did not start screaming that Ginger had disappeared, crashed on the couch of some guy she barely knew a billion miles away from home and did it all without telling anyone. It was a little bit disappointing. All Ester said was, "Hand me the oven mitt."

"Where's Dinah?" I asked as I walked through the door.

"Ginger doesn't understand why her disappearance was upsetting," Sam said. "Dinah went home."

"We did get thirty minutes of glorious, glorious silence," Baxter muttered. "But Francy wouldn't let us call Dinah back."

Brian growled, but didn't say anything, so I guess my sister hadn't made Ginger cry, just shake a lot.

Will had grabbed his brother and taken off, too. Bert was with the twins in the back and Judy was waiting with Kara on the couch. That was nice. After I kissed Kara I said, "You look tired."

"He doesn't need sugar to be a monster."

I laughed and she pouted and it felt good.

Over her head I watched Ester pull a tray of cookies out of the oven, wearing a wonderfully short little sundress. She'd had a date tonight.

"You made her cook for you instead?" I asked Brian.

"He wanted to make desert since Francy did the rest," Baxter said, even as he elbowed his brother in the side. Brian held out his hands. One was still bright pink. "Cooking while distracted doesn't really work out."

"You can still smell the burning flesh," Ginger said. "It was super gross."

"I didn't notice the top was still hot," Brian said. "I was kicked out of the kitchen."

"Wait until they're cool, Ginger," Ester warned her, "Or you'll burn your tongue."

Ginger held up her hands, waved them around and fooled absolutely no one that she was innocent. Ester was already heading to the door, thanking Sam for having her. Brian followed her out while I collapsed on the couch and let Kara sit on top of me.

"Today was a long day," I said as I buried my head in the crook of Kara's neck.

"Poor baby," she crooned as she snuggled closer. That was very nice.

"I'm really sorry about tonight," Brian was saying. He sounded like he meant it, too. He'd been worried about the whole dating thing but he probably hadn't expected it to go quite this badly.

"I kind of had fun. Ginger's a good date. A little demanding, a little abrasive, but peppy. Definitely entertaining. I would have rather spent time with you, of course, but…"

"I never meant to blow you off. I just—I'm really sorry. You don't deserve that."

"True."

"I'm sorry I blew it with you." I would have recommended sounding a little less surprised, but then I wasn't Brian.

"Brian, my little brother and his little girlfriend ran off is a good excuse to cancel a date. It might be the best excuse I've ever heard."

"I've had a really long day," he said gruffly. "So my brain isn't…but I think that wasn't you storming off."

"It feels like I'm still standing here."

"You're not mad?"

"Well, you did forget to actually cancel the date, so I'm not happy. But I'm tired and storming sounds like a lot of effort." Maybe it wasn't a good idea for Brian to date her; he was never going to live this one down.

"Why don't I walk you home then?" Brian offered. "Since you're tired. You might need an arm to lean on."

"That does sound like it would be helpful," Ester said, her voice fading as they walked away.

Possibly my—and Baxter's and Judy's, it wasn't just me—blatant eavesdropping alerted Sam to what was going on with his son.

"That's not a good idea," Sam said to me. I guess he knew this was sort of my fault.

"Brian deserves someone who wants to listen to him," Judy said in her pleading voice that usually worked. Not so much tonight.

"You can't think _she_'s a good idea," Baxter said, gesturing to the brat at the counter.

"It's just a conversation where he doesn't want to stab himself in the eye," I promised. "That's all."

"Seriously?" Ginger demanded, mouth full. "Because these are like the best cookies ever."

Sam ignored her and spent however long it took Brian to duck down the street and come back lecturing me on blah blah blah. Even Baxter's eyes were glazed over. Brian looked at us all, but didn't say anything. There wasn't much he could add to the conversation.

"You ready to go home?" Brian asked Ginger, exhaustion evident in his voice.

Somehow, while we weren't paying attention, Ginger had gathered up half the cookies and some of the night's leftovers into a dishcloth. Clutching her bounty to her chest, she slid off the counter. Having everyone pay attention to her finally made her flinch (or maybe it was Brian's disappointed face—I'd heard it was very effective).

"I thought I'd be back before you noticed," she said quietly. "Nobody cares where I go."

"They do now."

If I announced it loud enough to make her jump, well, I wanted her to remember. All she did was clutch the food tighter.

"You knew Art would care," Brian said just as quietly.

"He's got your stupid family curse to worry about."

Baxter started from his seat, but Judy kept him down. Brian said calmly, "He's not becoming a wolf."

"Right," Ginger said. She chanced a look at Sam and must not have liked what she saw. Her voice was small: "Can I go home now?"

"Come on," Brian said. She let him wrap an arm around her shoulders and he hugged her lightly as they headed to the car.

When they were gone Sam took a seat beside me on the couch. Bert brought the twins in; Will and Dinah promised they'd be over in five. We had to figure out what to do about Ginger.

* * *

><p>"Her mother's still not home," Brian complained when we got back. "Vick's there, for now, but she's got work tomorrow and her own life."<p>

Brian didn't get it, of course. None of us really did. How could you not look after your siblings? Even, especially, if your parents weren't going to do it? But Vick wouldn't stick around for long and I doubted Mel remembered she had a younger sister most days.

"You can't just go around adopting thirteen year old girls," Will said. He'd come back after Benji went to bed and was now comfortably sitting on the floor with Bert.

"If she moved in here, they wouldn't notice," Brian said angrily. Well, it was probably true.

"She can't live in a house full of boys, Brian," Dinah said. "There's barely room for Francy, right now. Where would she sleep?" The twins made gagging noises; Francy told them to knock it off. My sister continued, "There's child services. That would be the normal person response, right?"

"And she'll end up where?" Francy said.

Art was the one who quietly suggested, "There's her aunt. Her mom won't talk to her and Ginger doesn't get along with her but..."

Her aunt lived in La Push. All we needed was a room close to Brian and he'd look after her.

"Maybe if Ginger asked her really nicely?"

I started cracking up at that; I wasn't the only one. Ginger wouldn't, couldn't, do that. It was an idea, though. Collin's wife might do something if I asked really, really nicely. Taking care of a kid? That was a bit extreme, sure, but maybe we could somehow manage it...

"She doesn't need much," Brian said. Kid was scrappy.

"Have we considered that it's not our responsibility to step in?" Dinah asked.

"You want to leave her there?" I don't think I'd ever really seen Brian get that angry with Di before. It was mostly just weird, though Francy was not too subtly ordering us wolves to get between Brian and the brothers who were breakable.

"I think it sounds like you're the only one who wants to raise her, Brian, and I think that's a _bad_ idea. And I think you agree with me, even if you don't like it."

"I don't—someone has to look after her."

"And it can't be you. Not if you're going to—Brian, have you listened to her talk about boys? Do you really think she needs the guy she's eventually going to live happily ever after with to show up at her parent teacher interviews?"

The twins were scowling. For all that they complained about her, I don't think the twins much liked listening to people talk about Ginger like that.

I think I took my cue from them.

"We're done for the night," I decided. "We'll keep a close eye on her for a while. Maybe come up with a few plans. If her mom doesn't come home...we'll deal with that then. Art, you talk to Ginger, see what the hell she wants us to do. But if her answer is run away again—"

"Tell her she's an idiot," Art said without prompting. I grinned at him; I guess our little talk had worked.

"Good. And, kid, get laid. It'll make you less moody. Help the music, too."

"Or not," Brian snapped at me.

"But come to us if you have any questions," Francy added quickly.

"If she can't take off her pants herself, you're doing it wrong," Dinah offered.

"Use a condom or I'll kill you," Will said.

"Enough," Sam said. We all jumped. I'd forgotten the guy was there. "I believe you're finished."

He might not be a werewolf anymore, but sometimes Sam could still pull off the old Alpha magic. We got the fuck out of his house.

* * *

><p>There was more than just a certain tone of voice still left in the old timer.<p>

I went to the Uley house after work a few days later. Dinah and the twins were there, the girls teasing Brian about the shirt he'd chosen to wear for his date. It was a shirt. The poor guy. I said as much and then they came after me. Apparently, I wasn't allowed to wear shorts on a date. Who knew?

"So that's why I'm a horrible boyfriend?"

My sister rolled her eyes. "We don't have time to get into why you're a horrible boyfriend."

"Di," Brian chided. "He's been making a real improvement."

"This is the part where Brian gives you a gold star," Francy promised. Except for her glittering eyes, she looked dead serious. I thought Brian was, when he patted me on the shoulder; or I did, until the twins laughed at me.

"This is bullying," I decided. "And I have been improving."

I thought.

"The fact you need a team of people to help you date is..." My sister thought. "I can't decide between disturbing and sad."

"He's just a diva," Francy declared.

"I swear I've seen Will feed him chocolates." Brian thought just because the girls were between us he was safe; I'd get him later.

"I wish I found that surprising," Dinah complained.

"Do you get fanned with palm leaves?" Francy asked. "Or do you just make them pick out the wrong colour M&Ms?"

"Brian, make the mean girls stop," I whined.

"He can't," Francy said. "He's going to be late."

"Don't do anything Levi would do," Dinah added.

That's when Sam walked in. He was home later than usual, but one sniff and Brian relaxed. At least until his father said, "You're actually going to do this?"

"I think he's old enough to date if he wants to," Dinah said calmly. She was just daring him to fight her on this, though. It was pretty easy to tell.

"Hasn't this family done enough to the Cook girls?"

"Baxter and Ruth are still friends, Dad," Francy said. "One break up doesn't mean we're the Hatfields and McCoys."

"We should keep it that way."

"I'll be home before ten," Brian promised. Dinah booed and Francy rolled her eyes and I just whined, "Seriously? He's earned a few hours where he doesn't have to take care of someone."

Sam didn't have an answer to that because Brian had earned it. He'd earned it more than anyone I knew. But Sam decided to ruin my whole righteous anger thing. He said, "I spoke to Ginger's mother today."

"What?"

"She wants to be closer to her sister. Leah will arrange things so it's official. They'll move here by the end of the month."

"So she can leave Ginger alone in La Push instead of over there?" Dinah said at last. We had to say something.

"It'll be easier to keep an eye on Ginger. When her mother disappears, we'll know sooner."

"How did you do it?" Brian asked slowly.

"She doesn't want to hurt her daughter," Sam said just as slowly. "She just...doesn't want her. She recognizes that they'll be help for Ginger here."

"If she doesn't want her, then she shouldn't have had her."

"It's too late for that," Sam said. "I hope you'll have better manners when she moves here."

Brian nodded eventually. "Thank you."

"You're officially two minutes late," Dinah said quietly. Far more gently than she would have before she'd heard Sam's news. Brian nodded and though Sam was sill unhappy, he moved out of the way to let Brian pass. Brian left, then, after he'd hugged his dad.

"That still leaves Brian as the one raising her," Dinah said.

"In the interests of fairness, Dinah," Sam said, just a _hint_ of frustration in his voice, "I hope you'll recognize that I was only in charge when Claire was a very young girl. That was your father, helping his friend. Not me. I believe resisting imprinting isn't possible. Or healthy. Or good for the tribe. But I don't think it's permission to hurt young girls."

"Only the older ones." Francy spoke so quietly I barely caught it; Sam didn't. His eyes were on Dinah.

"But if you stand by and let it happen, it's okay?" Dinah asked.

"If your Alpha—"

"Dinah and I are going to the movies," Francy interrupted. "We'll pick up the twins on our way home. Arthur is giving lessons over at the Fuller's. Baxter's on patrol. There are leftovers in the fridge; you're welcome to help yourself. We'll see you later."

She waved goodbye; Dinah did so too, far less pleasantly.

Sam looked tired.

"Thanks," I offered.

"Not enough," he said with a shrug. "Thank your mother. She's the one who's going to have to deal with the paperwork."

"Yeah."

I could tell when I wasn't wanted. I took off.


	28. Chapter 28

A/N: Arghhh! My computer is now up and running again though I don't think I'm ever going to locate the USB that has the last chapters on it. But I found this one and am rewriting those. Anyway, I'm sorry about the delay.

* * *

><p>The prospect of Ginger moving into the neighbourhood cheered Brian up ridiculously, but when he met up with us at the top of the cliffs, he wasn't in a good mood. He'd had a date earlier in the night, so Will and I hadn't expected to find him quite so grumpy.<p>

"Do you always have to be a jackass?" Brian muttered to Will pretty much the second we'd all settled down.

"Genetics," Will offered. "So what did I do this time?"

"She wouldn't tell me. Just said you did a lot of yelling."

"Does that narrow it down?" I asked my cousin.

Will had figured it out, though—and his (surprisingly calm) answer helped me get it too. "I was a kid, I didn't realize she'd take it quite so personally and I'm sorry. She hurt my feelings when she dumped me. It just kind of came out."

"Ester dumped you?"

I hadn't even known she'd dated Will until I started being friends with her it was so long ago, but if she'd dumped him, I guess it explained why he hadn't told me. Whatever she'd said to Brian to get him pissed at Will might be why she still avoided my cousin.

"Shut up, Levi." His attention was on Brian. "She tell you why she...?"

"No." Brian sighed. "Does it involve you yelling at her some more?"

"No." It might have been the truth, but Will was doing a lousy job of being convincing. "I don't even remember...I just shouldn't have—well, whatever. I overreacted."

"You ever think about not overreacting?" Brian suggested.

"It really was an accident."

"What did you say to her?" I asked.

Even Brian looked curious, so Will offered, "I may have harped on how she was repulsive and fat and would die alone. A little bit. More than a little bit."

Brian buried his head in his hands. "I'm going to ignore you for a little while."

"Fair enough."

"How come she didn't tell me this?" I complained. "I was doing the whole friend thing first."

"I don't think she ever told anyone what I said to her. Besides her sister. And Pete, possibly."

"Don't talk about her ex-boyfriend, either," Brian ordered, hands still over his eyes, like if he couldn't see Will he couldn't think about killing him either.

Interesting.

"You know, Kara's been super depressed since Art ran away." It was stupid. The kid hadn't gone anywhere and I hadn't told her to look after him. Plus, Art had made her an entire album's worth of songs apologizing—including an original tune that was kind of catchy—so I didn't get why she still felt bad.

"I can't believe I didn't realize how much almost phasing was bugging him."

"Anyway," I said, "Since Kara's being dumb and you're being dumb and Will was once a jackass, you and me should go on a double date."

Brian moved his hands away, so he could blink in my direction. "How does your mind work?"

"Does it work?" Will suggested. Brian snorted, so I figured they'd be okay.

"Seriously." It was the sort of thing Kara would like, it would be fun, and I'd get to see if I was right about Brian (if she was telling him important stuff, then, well, maybe he wasn't just having conversations where he didn't want to stab himself in the eye). "Let's double date. Hell, if Will could get off his ass and pick someone up—"

"No," Brian snapped before Will could. "He's not allowed near her."

"She made that clear years ago, thank you, Brian," Will muttered.

"Brian, focus. We're taking the girls out to dinner. Unless—you didn't, like, give Ester an eating disorder—?"

"No, I didn't give her an eating disorder," Will snapped. Then, quieter, "Just..."

"Just stop talking," Brian begged. "Levi, if she wanted you to know anything about this, she would have told you. I'm sorry I did. Could you please keep it to yourself?"

"I'm like...the whatever of desecration."

"Okay," Brian said. "You can talk. What the hell did that just mean?"

"It means he's going to be super obvious about it, but he won't actually say the words, so you better hope she's gotten dumber. Or that she just thinks he's perceptive."

Brian sighed again. "Okay, Levi. I'll see if she wants to. For Kara's sake."

"Good." And since I wasn't brain dead, I said, "Let's talk about anything else."

* * *

><p>We (okay, Brian) found some cute place along the water of Port Angeles online that the girls thought looked adorable and we thought wasn't too expensive. Kara thought I was a genius; Ester rolled her eyes the next time she saw me, but it was the eye roll that was her way of calling me a genius, I thought (it looked a lot like the, 'you're a dumbass' eye roll, but it wasn't quite the same, I didn't think).<p>

There was the small problem of how we were going to get there. We'd (I—this was my contribution) were just going to borrow Will's car. He'd half given it to Judy already, so I figured he wouldn't mind. Only Francy and Kyle decided they were going to Port Angeles that day too and wouldn't it be so much fun if we could all just go together?

The answer, by the way, was no. It would not be fun.

So I ended up borrowing my dad's van so the six of us could road trip.

Kara sat on my lap as I sat on the Uleys porch, while Ester and Brian leaned against the van. Ester had braided her hair today, which she claimed technically made it not a ponytail, though I made fun of her anyway. It was a way to pass the time until Francy and Kyle showed up, his arm around her waist. I wanted this to be a fun little reward for Kara, not some horrific test of whether I could stand watching some loser grope my imprint for hours while stuck in a small space.

Brian and I had briefly argued over who got to drive. It wouldn't do for anyone to lose their temper and Kyle's grating laugh was going to drive both of us nuts. But since it was Brian's sister being assaulted, I let the guy drive.

Francy offered Ester the front and I climbed in the back with Kara. There wasn't a lot of room, but I did have more than half the bench to myself, since she was so small. And edible. It was kind of easy to ignore Kyle when Kara was tucked under my arm. Not so easy to ignore Francy.

"It's some local summer camp, but that doesn't matter," Francy was explaining to Ester. "It's _Camelot._"

"I can't remember any of the music for that," Ester admitted.

"Saint Genevieve, Saint Genevieve. It's Guinevere, remember me?" Francy said. When that didn't seem to spark anything, she started singing.

"Shan't I have the normal life a maiden should?  
>Shall I never be rescued in the wood?<br>Shall two knights never tilt for me?  
>Or let their blood be spilt for me?<br>Oh, Where are the simple joys of maidenhood?"

Kyle laughed. "You didn't tell me you liked it _that_ much."

"I love it," Francy said decidedly. "Shall kith not kill their kin for me…" She hummed a few more words I didn't catch, then admitted, "Arthur says my obsession is kind of unhealthy and he's watched Evita, like, a thousand times."

"I didn't know you could sing," I threw in, mostly because Kyle looked a bit too pleased with himself.

Francy just laughed. "I can't really. My younger brothers got all the vocal talent."

"Timmy's the best," Brian said. "But Art and Tommy are pretty good, too, though you'll never catch Tommy singing. Baxter..."

The twins were too nice, so I laughed for them. My beta, whose speaking voice was toe-tingling if my sister was to be believed, wouldn't have been able to find the right key if it dropped out of the sky and hit him on the head.

"Brian has a pretty good singing voice," Francy said. "Though he loves hiding it."

Brian quickly corrected his sister, but the damage had been done. "I need to hear this," I announced and even Kara joined in the chorus, "Please, Brian?" I think the hand Ester was running along his arm convinced him best, but what did I know?

"I'm not singing by myself," he informed his sister.

"If ever I would leave you, how could it be in spring-time?" she sang back to him. Even with imprinting mojo, I knew her voice wasn't going to stop a crowd even if she was on key. I could even tell it wasn't well suited to the song; but it suited Brian's voice perfectly, and she sounded good, with her brother.

"Knowing how in spring I'm bewitched by you so?  
>Oh, no! Not in spring-time!<br>Summer, winter or fall!  
>No, never could I leave you at all!"<p>

We clapped and wolf-whistled and made so much noise that the tips of Brian's ears turned red. "We're not that good," he chided us all. His sister was less modest, lapping up our praise, though she leaned over to the front seat and told Ester, "I swear it sounds better when I do it the shower."

"You're probably better than the kids we're going to see," Kyle said. The slimy bastard didn't even want to go.

"At least they'll be cute," Francy said, patting his hand.

"I've never seen _Camelot_," Kara said, which started Francy up all over again. It was kind of nice, watching them talk, ignoring Kyle. Though it would have been even better if, when Francy explained, "Though of course Dinah finds it personally offensive," Brian hadn't been the one to clarify.

"She hates that Guinevere's only job is to help Arthur's brilliant idea along and then when she _thinks_ about wanting something for herself, she ruins everything for everyone," Brian said. Ester didn't say anything about the way he could quote my sister by heart, though I would have kicked him if I was closer.

"I thought the story was about Arthur?" Kyle asked. Which was useful, I guess. Fine. Kyle finally had a single point in his favour.

"The story is about Camelot," Francy explained. "And how the best of men fall. And how even the best of things can't last forever."

"Speak for yourself," I muttered. Kara got the joke, but she hid her smile against my chest.

* * *

><p>After we dropped Francy and Kyle off (they were just going to get a quick bite and then hurry to catch their show—the kids started early in the night, apparently) we were a much quieter group. I wouldn't have called my imprint loud, but she would talk when other people wouldn't. The conversation was left mostly up to Ester and me and Ester wasn't the most talkative of people either. Kara was trying her best (and was adorable) but Brian was off in his own little world and kind of pissing me off.<p>

When the girls headed off to the bathroom once we sat down, I may have said exactly that.

"What is with you?"

Brian had the nerve to look surprised. "What?"

"Kyle's a douche, yes. We still haven't gotten rid of him; it sucks, I know. But if you didn't want to do this, you should have warned me."

"What?" was all he said again. Eventually, he understood I needed him to say a bit more than that. "You kiss Kara an awful lot."

"I'm grovelling," I pointed out. "Also, kissing leads to other things, Brian. Things that I very much enjoy."

Not that he remembered what sex was, but that was a problem for another day. My pack totally wasn't getting any. I think I preferred knowing my little sister was occasionally getting molested to knowing she was too freaked out about losing control to go all the way with her boyfriend most of the time (on the very rare occasion when they were alone). And everyone else…everyone else was getting even less than my blue-balled beta. It was depressing.

"Francy doesn't like getting kissed in public but...he kissed her while we were driving off."

"I saw." I was a little proud of myself for not stopping the van, getting out and ripping Kyle's head off. I considered it a sign of personal growth. "Brian, she's your sister. You're not allowed to make out with her."

"That's not funny."

And he glared until I agreed it wasn't, that I was a very, very unfunny guy and I would never, ever make twincest jokes ever, ever again. I could safely promise that because the idea of Brian making out with his sister wasn't remotely hot (and I could find something hot about almost everything else she did).

Once I had sworn all that, Brian said, "I haven't…"

"Made out with your sister?"

"You don't even listen when _you_ talk, do you?"

"I really just can't follow this conversation." Brian was turning a bit red and I finally figured that maybe— "You haven't kissed her yet?"

"I've kissed her," he grumbled. Then he took a deep breath. "It's just different, when you're with someone."

"Are you not with her? I thought you guys…" Well, I hadn't thought, really.

"She's not seeing anyone else. But we haven't really talked about…She was surprised I asked her to come today. But I thought she was happy about it."

"So tell her you want more. If that's what you want."

"Levi." And there was the kind of terror I was only supposed to see in the eyes of vampires right before I ended their immortal existence.

"Brian, you're not giving her a fucking kidney. If you don't want to date her, whatever." Well, no, because I was getting better about being friends with hot girls and I didn't want to ruin it, but for Brian—for Brian I would. Didn't mean I had to like it. "But if you do wanna make out with her more than you do now, I don't get why you just can't tell her that."

"Because I don't have time for a girlfriend right now."

Since the girls were coming back just then. I had to lean closer, just so I could say, "Both Ginger and Dinah can and will kick your ass for using them as an excuse not to do whatever the fuck you want. You know that."

Honestly, I wasn't too sure about Ginger, but Dinah—Dinah I knew. She might (probably did) still love Brian, but she would be super pissed to hear he wasn't even trying to move on. Ginger...Ginger wouldn't have cared one way or another, I think. She had her own shit to deal with. But I could see Ginger kicking Brian's ass with one hand tied behind her back, so I figured it was the right thing to say.

"They have porn in the bathroom," Ester said as she sat down. Well, that got my attention.

"It's supposed to be art," Kara said, wrinkling her adorable, adorable little nose. The girls snickered, though afterwards Kara informed me very quietly, "You are much more impressive."

"Of course I am."

Since we were on a topic of conversation that everyone could enjoy, dinner went along smoothly.

* * *

><p>After dinner, we went for a walk along the water. We all got ice cream, though after Ester tasted hers she seemed happy enough to feed it to Brian (not that I was jealous or anything but I was still STARVING because Brian wouldn't let me order five times what a normal person could eat). When Kara started shivering, even under my arm, I told the other two to go on ahead and settled her down on my lap on the nearest bench.<p>

She stopped shivering quickly.

"You're hands aren't even cold," I said, narrowing my eyes.

"You kept trying to give them space," Kara said, putting her head on my shoulder. "I figured you wanted them to be alone."

"Not bad," I admitted and kissed her a bit.

They'd gone further out, just barely visible except when I turned around and squinted. I could hear just fine, though, them blathering about all this boring stuff.

"Levi?" Kara said as we stared out at the water. "You didn't say a word to Kyle."

"What?"

"Even Ester noticed. When we went to the bathroom she asked me why you guys didn't like him. Before, I didn't see how Brian could lose the bet and now—"

"What bet?"

"Brian has to be nice to Kyle and Will has to be nice to Mr Uley. Bert's the judge. He told me it wasn't going well for Brian."

"Because Brian's an idiot. Will doesn't—you know I was just backing Brian up, right?" Yes, I got nervous when she didn't immediately say it was okay. "I'll do better on the ride back."

"Okay," she said slowly. There was some hesitation, but eventually she spat out, "Levi, you know, I don't think you're rude to Kyle because you want to be with her." FINALLY. "Mostly. I do think you're being really rude, though. Kyle's a nice guy and you should talk to him more."

"Kyle's a dick."

"He's really not. He's always really nice to me. And to her, especially."

"That's what he wants you to think. You know he got drunk at a party and just left her there? What kind of asshole does that?"

Okay, so I'd done that so many times it wasn't even funny. Well, a couple of times it had been funny. One time—well, Kara didn't need to know that. She just needed to trust that I knew a bit more about how guys thought than she did. And guys like Kyle shouldn't be around Brian's sister.

"She didn't tell me he did that," Kara admitted. Thank you, sweet beautiful imprint. "But if she's okay with it, maybe you should be okay with it too? And maybe you could try to convince her brothers..."

"I can't make them like the guy who's fucking their sister."

"He's just a summer fling."

I couldn't help the small snicker. "Telling them that isn't going to make it better. Trust me."

"There's nothing you can do?"

"They've always been protective of their sister. You should have seen what they did to Connor."

The guy still lived in Forks, but he didn't come around La Push anymore. Bragging about sleeping with Francine (lying about it, too) was a surefire way to piss off Dinah and the Uley boys and in La Push we liked to call that suicide.

"It's not funny, Levi," Kara said.

"It's a little bit funny."

"I just think you'd be nicer if you didn't think you were defending them." She looked relieved as the words left her lips. "Yeah. So you should tell them to stop getting so worked up so you don't have to."

"I like defending them."

"I like you when you're nice," she said. And the way she said it may have made me roll my eyes, but it also made me kiss her.

"I'll think about it," I promised.

"Okay. Thanks. Uh, how's Brian doing?"

I gave a listen. I'd been able to keep track of their voices, though I hadn't caught the words, since I was listening to Kara, but now all I heard was silence.

"I don't think very good," I admitted. Finally, Ester's voice carried over: "I thought we were—What brought this on?"

"I'm sorry." I wasn't sure what they were talking about, but Brian didn't sound all that convincing to me. "I just can't do…"

"Shit," I told Kara. "I think he's breaking up with her." Could he do that if they weren't together?

"We could call them over," Kara mumbled. But I put my finger on her lips so I could make out Ester's response.

"I'm really not in the place for anything but this. Rushing into anything isn't my thing. And since Pete…" There was something that could have been laughter. Maybe. Very depressing laughter. "You know, part of the reason I asked you out…Ruth wouldn't stop bugging me. Said I was sitting around moping. So I figured I'd ask you and when Dinah ran me off like last time, I could tell my sister at least I'd tried."

The first time they'd kissed (Ester had told me), a long time ago, Dinah broke up with her boyfriend the day after. Brian forgot Ester was even alive (well, she said he explained he had to be there for his friend, but it was the same thing and I thought she'd been a little too understanding about the whole thing).

"Flattering." There was anger in Brian's voice and this time I snuck a look, just to make sure he wasn't shaking too close to her. "I'm safe to fool around with because I still let my ex-girlfriend run my life."

"You should see your face when you say fool around."

Brian never could stay angry for long. "It's why I need to know what we're doing. Because I don't know what else to say."

"I'd forgotten how conscientious you could be." Could they not speak up so eavesdropping was just a little bit easier? Sheesh. "And how much I liked talking to you. And how sweet you could be."

"Not so much today," Brian said ruefully.

"You're not perfect?"

"Spoilers."

It didn't make much sense, but then they both sounded happier, so I figured it was an inside joke. Jokes were good. More silence, though this wasn't quite so bad. I sighed and told Kara, "It's like they're trying to see who can speak less."

"Well," Ester said eventually, "I didn't bring my label maker with me today, but…I mean, it's not that I don't like you. I think I could get there. With you. Eventually. If you wanted."

"You don't think I want to?" His voice told me this was not him breaking up with her, not even close. Ester didn't seem to share my excitement.

"My mother always said don't ask questions if you don't need the answer. Not in La Push." A deep breath. "Are you even allowed to get over Dinah Black?"

"She's actually kind of a marshmallow when you get to know her. One that could knock your teeth out, obviously, but..."

"I'm going to tell her you said that."

"That might end with my teeth knocked out." The two of them snickered, before Brian added, "I was with Di for so long that I don't really remember how to do any of this. I'm sorry that I'm making a mess of it. I'm trying my best. But I could use some help."

"You really want to do this? With me?"

Kara giggled; she didn't have to turn around to spy on them. "I don't think they're breaking up."

When they finished, Brian said, "Yeah. I like you. I—it's not like I need your kidney, but I think, well, like you said before."

"Maybe eventually..."

"Not maybe. Just...eventually. You think we could both try for eventually?"

Seriously? How long did it take a person to think? But FINALLY, she answered.

"Okay. Yeah. I can do that. Eventually do that—I—"

The laughter wasn't horribly depressed this time; it sounded like both of them, too. Good.

"Are you cold?" Brian asked.

"Only if that's a line."

At least one of them had a brain. There was the sound of rustling fabric and I risked a peek over behind me. They were wrapped up in each other; I left them to it.

"Success." Kara matched my grin so we were good, too. I had let the conversation behind me fade away, but I was brought back to it when a very feminine (I hoped it was Ester) moan carried over. That was my boy. Kara must have read that on my face. "Good," she said, snuggling closer.

And there was Ester's slightly breathy, still trying to be matter-of-fact, "You're very good at that."

"You have the most beautiful lips."

A glance over back and I could see his finger—well, I couldn't see his finger because it was in her mouth. "She's going to break him," I said. Hell, watching her suck was giving me ideas and I had a perfect imagination already.

"I think Brian's always appreciated that in a girl," Kara said, tugging on my hand. "We're going inside."

"What? Why? It's just getting interesting."

"You're staring," she said. "And I really am getting cold."

"You're no fun," I said, but I followed her inside. Brian had gotten back to kissing the girl, so I figured he wasn't quite broken yet.


	29. Chapter 29

Since there was never anything to kill around La Push, I ran as far out as I could, making sure nothing could get close. There was nothing out there. There was never anything out there. Occasionally a vamp got stupid, but we usually had plenty of time to watch them blunder their way towards us (not that we ever waited).

It was all just a little bit frustrating.

So I wasn't in the greatest of moods to begin with. When I got near the town, I was trying to figure out where I wanted to go (my house had more food; the Uleys had more people), when I passed by the lodges.

Tourists meant money which meant I wasn't allowed to scare any of them away, even though some people think being away from home entitles them to shit all over the place. But it wasn't the tourists that caught my eye just then. Plenty of people I knew worked at the lodges. Baxter still did part time work there. Ester worked there, too.

It wasn't Ester that I caught my eye, though she looked good in a t-shirt that wasn't quite on, exposing her shoulder and probably more of her bra than she wanted. Well, not just that.

It was the fact Will was with her.

He was a good five or six feet away, but I still didn't think Brian would like it. It couldn't hurt to make sure my cousin wasn't doing anything too stupid.

My clothes were back at home, but turning into a werewolf made me into superman, so I just phased back and stepped out of the trees.

"Hey guys," I called. I should have brought a camera. Ester's eyebrows went up and up. Will jumped. "How are you?"

"I'm going home," Ester called. "You forgot your pants!"

Will was already stalking over. He thought you couldn't take me anywhere.

"I was wondering why it felt so breezy," I called back. I think she was laughing at me.

"Was that really necessary?" Will asked as he reached me, grabbing my arm and pulling me back into the forest.

"You tell me. You're the one who kept saying she didn't want you anywhere near her."

"Levi."

"When you phase, I'm just going to make you tell me."

He laughed and started stripping. "If Brian's actually dating her, I figured it would be less awkward if she could stand to be in the same room as me."

_How's it going?_ I asked as we both phased. He'd pick up the clothes after his patrol. They weren't worth the gas it had taken to buy them (not that we had used gas).

_Well, she didn't call the cops._ I picked up the pace, forcing him to go faster. _I think we can be civil for Brian's sake. She was always sensible._

There was something close to respect in his voice. Will liked to do things in the most annoying way possible. Why wouldn't you respect the girl who wouldn't talk to you for years? Obviously.

_And when I call her tonight, she's going to tell me the same thing?_

_She should; though she doesn't really like talking about me all that much._

_Usually people like complaining about you._

Here's_ something—she only told Brian about…my little temper tantrum because she figured he already knew. She knows there's something up with us._

_You think he told her? _ He should have ran it by me first. _'Cuz he could. If he asked_.

_I think the fact I'm twice the size I used to be and you now resemble a tank might have more to do with it. Y__ou really think it would be a good idea for Brian to tell her?_

_Hard to be in a relationship where you don't know._

_Brian's not careless enough to say anything. And Ginger will probably drive her off long before it matters._

I could see that happening. Not intentionally; Ginger had settled into La Push the way we assumed she would. With enough drama for three people. She was already seeing two guys from Judy's class, which was making the vein in Brian's temple throb but wasn't so bad that we could just forbid it (though my sister had given her a lecture on what a bad idea that was—the Dinah and Ginger show was kind of the most entertaining thing I'd seen in years).

_You know, I know she's a pain, _I said_ , But the kid's kind of fun._

_No, _Will snapped. When the rage faded (when he realized I hadn't meant for ME, obviously), he eventually admitted, _But I wouldn't bet against her._

That was it. She was one of us—she'd come out all right.

_I think you owe me one, _I decided as we ran.

_For what?_

_My impromptu show today. It was very embarrassing._

_Please. You don't have a speck of shame in your entire body. I'd bet my life on it._

_I had a long day_._ I need a pick me up. I need to relax. I need—_

_Your head examined?_

_I need yoga, _I decided.

I'd been bugging him about it since I found out because it was too funny NOT to bug him. He hadn't bothered showing me, but I wasn't going to let up. Today, I think he wanted to distract me from the Ester situation, so he actually gave in.

_The class isn't that interesting—_

_Liar._

_It's not. But you might appreciate...well, okay, it is kind of funny._

_Excellent._

_I barely listen as Nancy goes through her opening nattering, but once she stops being overly cheerful, she gets to work. There's quiet music—a slow peaceful rhythm that I couldn't find on my own if my life depended on it. Nancy keeps up a soothing stream of nonsense that dances with the music, reminding me to breathe in and out. In and out._

_In and out. And then there's nothing but deep breaths and slow movements, each vertebrae following the other, one deliberate moment of time after another, an awareness of my muscles and my center, inhaling to lift, exhaling to lower, my own breathing in and out, just in and out and Nancy insisting it's on your own time. _

_There's just this._

"_I'll see you next week." It's sharp, startling and it makes me jump. Nancy moves gracefully towards her water. "Thank you all for coming."_

_Fran gives me the moment to breathe, to slowly wake back up from wherever I went, saying goodbye to the people around us. I lie on the ground, the wood rough against my face (smells terrible too). My shirt's soaked (way too hot in here) but I haven't stopped sweating yet. _

"_Excellent form," Nancy mutters from above me, nudging me in the hip with her foot. Fran's got to be giving her the look—you're a walking sexual harassment suit just waiting to happen and I don't know why I put up with you—that she so often gives Levi. I glance up. Yup. It's one of my favourites. Nancy continues, "Did Fran tell you about Teddy?" _

"_Yeah," I say as I climb to my feet._

"_He knows twice as much as I do and I really think you'd like meditation. You should call him."_

"_I will. Thanks." _

"_We'll see you next week," Fran says and despite the sweat they hug goodbye. I wave and follow Fran out (she's so graciously letting me carry everything). She even lets me load everything in the trunk while she leans against the car. It makes it easier for her to startle me when she talks:_

"_Give me your shirt."_

"_What?"_

"_Give me your shirt or let me kill them," she explains. "But if I kill them you'll be down two pack members and that will ruin Levi's day which will ruin your week so you should probably just give me your shirt." _

_That she can still look passably innocent right now is one of those things about life that just isn't fair. _

"_Turn around then."_

"_You're shy now?" she says as she turns. "I didn't even know it was possible to wiggle that much while bending over."_

"_You should practice more then, sweetheart," I say as I take off my shirt. I like having a spot in the front and I like not having to come early—I do not _wiggle_, but if I did, well, it would be worth it. There are a couple of towels in the back, so I grab one. It doesn't cover much, but then my left side's going to be against the door._

"_No condescension before twelve, William." Since she calls me whatever she wants, I don't know why I can't call her whatever I want (even if, yes, I'm much better at sounding patronizing than she is—it's a skill). I throw the shirt at her back. "Ew! Ew. How much do you sweat?"_

_Her nose is wrinkled and she's making faces that are equally stupid and adorable, when she turns back around, but she shrugs on the t-shirt. _

"_This is so gross," she mutters as she sits down. She's sitting on another towel, thankfully, because she isn't exactly sweat-free herself. "Though Mrs Thompson would be so jealous if she saw me right now."_

"_Let's not talk about all the pity sex I could be having."_

"_There'd be no pity when those old women had you in their clutches. They want to eat you. Slowly."_

_"I still don't know why we just can't tell them I'm gay."_

_Because I can _hear_ them. All of them. All the time. I can hear them saying how lovely it is that I'm there with my girlfriend, friend, oh really? And then I hear them explain to the newbies oh so quietly that my girlfriend died and the poor dear still hasn't recovered._

_There's no venom in my voice, though. Nancy's jokes about forms aside, she's not entirely useless. _

_"That's not funny," Fran says sharply. Not the response I was expecting (she won't let me say I'm asexual either, though I did all the research). "Sorry. I've been…stressed, lately."_

_"Ginger's coming." Just the thought is enough to almost undo all of Nancy's hard work. _

_"Brian's handling that. Don't worry," she adds, "Dinah's helping him. Dad, too. Arthur, too...I've been thinking about him phasing, lately. I can't—I don't like it."_

"_Worrying about it won't change anything." Benny's got years and her brothers between him. It won't come to that._

_"I was thinking: couldn't the Alpha just order them not to phase? That's what Levi did for Baxter's imprinting, right?"_

"_Alpha orders only work on werewolves."_

"_So telling him not to phase won't work until he's a wolf."_

"_Right. Besides, we're not even sure it'll work on Baxter." He believes it will; that might be the only reason it does. Not that it matters; kid's too honourable to leave her. "I don't think Levi has the power to stop people from phasing in the first place. Uncle Jake couldn't order my dad to not phase; stands to reason the opposite isn't going to happen."_

"_Arthur can't phase."_

"_We wouldn't eat the kid."_

__You don't need claws to hurt someone. Levi's the fighter, but people still talk like I'm the scary one.__

"_If it was Benjamin—what would you do if it was Benjamin?" _

"_Move." It comes out immediately; I've thought about it more than I want to admit."We phase to protect our land, so if you're not here—you can't afford that, Fran."_

_We spend the drive home arguing but I don't want to push Fran out of a moving car, so that's good. Arguing in circles isn't. There's nothing she can do and she knows it, but that's not going to stop her from going over everything again and again and coming up with stupider and stupider ways of trying to get her way. I'll give her this—she's not wrong that if you don't like the rules you can follow them anyway, break them, change them or change who makes them. That doesn't make her any less of an idiot. _

_When we pull up in front of her house, she says, "It was just an idea."_

"_It was a _dumb _idea."_

_For some reason, the barely restrained hostility makes her smile. "I know. I was just brainstorming; I never thought you'd ever—I promise I didn't mean it." She shrugs off my t-shirt and holds out her arm. "How do I smell?"_

_I try not to breathe her in. "Like I need to learn how to run faster." _

"_Baxter says you're a lot faster than you let on."_

_"He just said that because he's mad at me."_

_It's not like I hadn't done what he asked; I just wanted to be clear that I didn't have to. If Seth gets to avoid the pack hierarchy...and I listened to Judy, so I don't know what his problem is._

"_He's not mad. More…bothered. My brothers don't really like it when people don't do exactly what they're told. In case you haven't noticed," she says as she opens the door. "Hey. You are okay with me doing this, right?"_

"_Torturing your brothers?"I have to figure out a way to make nice with Ester and Baxter's working a few hours less than he should. "You really need to ask me that?"_

_Fran snorts. "Heads up: eventually I'm going to admit to them that you held me while I cried over how awful it was that my family just can't accept the man that I love."_

_"One, you need to work on your delivery of 'man that I love.'" She accepts this was a tilt of her head; even she can't pretend to like Kyle that much. "Two, I don't hold people."_

_"I cried into your shirt," she informs me. "It was really sweet of you, actually. Though maybe I should mention you were really uncomfortable with the whole thing?"_

_"Hopefully they'll just feel so guilty they won't care about the details."_

_"Cross your fingers," she says getting out of the car. _

_"Hey, Fran." She doesn't close the door. They are my pack brothers or whatever crap Levi usually spouts. I'm not going to stop her, but I can give them a little help. "__Tell Kyle to wash his hands more."_

_NO! _I startled Will out of his memories, but who cared. _What are you doing? Don't tell her that. It's so, so funny when they..._

_Just because you need to know everything about her sex life, doesn't mean her brothers do,_ Will said.

_Have you managed to get Brian or Baxter's memories yet?_ I asked. It was mean, it was very mean, but at the same time, I was sure it would be pretty funny.

_Judy was there,_ Will said. _Bright and early. __Which you said you'd put a stop to._

_I can't tell her just to suck up the nightmares. The kids aren't doing anything. _

Will was unimpressed. _Your mother's going to crucify us all._

_Try not to be too scared of my mother,_ I said to him. I headed for home; I needed to find Judy. _I always thought my imprint was a much nicer person._

Will followed along after me. _I wouldn't bet against Fran, either._

* * *

><p>Judy had to explain to the very distraught Uley brothers that while their sister might have smelt like my cousin she did not smell like sex; it took them twenty minutes before they let Judy or Francy get a word in edgewise, though, so they managed to mentally scar themselves first. They felt so terrible afterwards that it explained why they'd let Kyle come over for family dinner last week. Also, it was possibly the reason they finally had decided Kyle wasn't SO bad (it had worked for me for years; Will could make anyone look harmless in comparison).<p>

The guilt might have been the reason Kyle was over that night, too.

It annoyed me, but it wasn't TOO bad. The Uley brothers were pretending they weren't suffering, which made it easier for me. Besides, having Kara around was distracting enough that I didn't really care what Kyle was up to. Also, while he might have had my imprint curled up beside him, Francine was far more interested in keeping Dinah and Will from killing each other (mostly because they could take the house with them without trying). My family liked a good rousing argument after dinner.

We hadn't crashed Uley family dinner, but since Sam was visiting Paul tonight Judy had gone over and started a video game tournament that the rest of us had to show up for. Brian and Ester were in the kitchen, supposedly cleaning up after some of our snacks, while Art and Ginger were hiding from the rest of us. My younger sister and Bert were facing Timmy and Tommy in a glorious virtual battle to the death. Baxter and Kara sat near them; I'd been talking to them until I'd gone to the bathroom.

Since I was up, I took the opportunity to drop into the kitchen to hunt for more food.

"Who's winning?" Brian asked, smacking my hand away from the leftover noodles.

"Oh, come on."

"That's lunch. Go hunting if you're hungry."

"Mean. I think you're brothers are going to get disqualified if they don't stop working together."

Brian grinned proudly. Yeah, the twins weren't going to stop. "I'm sure Judy can take them."

"Bert's kicking her ass," I said. Beating all of them, which is why the twins were cheating. "Just don't tell her I said that. You two going to stick around for the grand finale?"

"We hadn't decided," Brian said, glancing down at Ester, who shrugged and let him wrap his arm around her waist. She said, "I don't mind staying here, if you want. We can't go to my place—my sister and Luke are there."

"Cockblocked at all turns," I observed. Brian looked annoyed, but Ester shrugged again (the shrug of a woman who knew she wasn't going to get any anytime soon and had resigned herself to her miserable fate).

"We could just go for a walk," Brian offered.

"Whatever you want," Ester said again, leaning back into him, laughing when he growled at me when I reached for the food.

Kara's laughter caught my attention; Judy was trying to take both of the twins. It wasn't going to work out well. Baxter tried pulling her off them, but they ended up a tangled mess of limbs as Bert methodically slaughtered all of them on the screen.

"I kind of want to see the winner," Brian admitted.

"It'll be a great show," I promised. Since I wasn't getting any food, I headed back to the couch and left them to finish cleaning up.

Kara shifted so I could slide in behind her on the couch. Baxter was sitting on the floor so my sister could sit on him (mostly so he could hold her back from throwing the controller—she was a sore, sore loser), but they'd managed to talk anyway. We'd been arguing over old movies before but they'd moved onto school things now. We still had almost a month left before Kara went back, but she was weirdly excited about it. It was cute.

"You guys are still playing games?"

Baxter stiffened, but the rest of the kids didn't even flinch as Ginger sat down between the twins. She and Art had been holed up in Baxter's room, blasting music so loudly it had given me a headache. Their weird co-dependent thing meant that Brian left them alone, though he wouldn't have let any other brother bring any other girl into their room for that long. Ginger did smell like the kid (no fair—Brian was giving HIM leftovers), but not like sex and the Uley brothers were currently very aware there was a distinction.

"You're in the way," Timmy complained. His brother settled for elbowing her in the side. Ginger punched him back.

"She has a great right hook," I noticed.

"Thanks?" Ginger said, glancing at the twins like I was the crazy one. It was a compliment. And she did. Great form. And more power than a little girl should have.

"It's not like I need my arm," Tommy muttered.

"Handicapped is the only way you're going to win."

"That's only because he's playing against me," Timmy said. "And I am the all-powerful, grand master champion—hey!"

"Sorry, grand master champion," Judy said. "But you're going down."

"I thought you guys weren't on teams?" Ginger asked. She could actually follow along; I was surprised, but then she had been hanging around the twins more, lately. It didn't look like any of them liked each other, but it made Brian happy (when she was with the twins, she wasn't with anyone else).

"He likes me," Timmy said, sticking his tongue out. So Ginger grabbed the controller out of his brother's hand. The game paused as the three kids fought it out. There was a lot of pinching and some punching and some hair pulling that I would have mocked Timmy for if his brother hadn't punched him first. Eventually, Tommy managed to get the controller out of her reach and the twins pushed her away.

"We're almost done," Bert promised, eager to unpause the game. He was going to win, soon. But he wanted to beat the twins fairly. "You can beat them up afterwards."

"Sorry," Ginger said sweetly. It was creepy. She pushed the twins off of her and crawled towards him. "I should go home."

Bert didn't say anything, just tried to look over her head.

"You should walk me home," Ginger decided. It took the poor kid a second to realize she was talking to him. When he did…Bert just kept blinking.

"We're almost done," Judy offered. My sister looked torn between laughter and fear. I glanced behind us to see that Will and Dinah hadn't been arguing nearly enough—they'd heard. If it was at all possible to make someone explode with your mind, Ginger would have been ash. And then the ash would have kept exploding.

"I'll walk you," Art offered coming from the kitchen.

Brian and Ester had crept closer, too. Brian said, "We were just going to go for a walk. The four of us can—"

Ginger rolled her eyes at Brian. She did that a lot. "The two of you don't need company, _Brian_." You idiot, was implied. "It's fine. Bert'll walk me home. Right?"

"That's—" Bert glanced over at Judy, who shrugged, and Baxter, who offered, "She shouldn't be out there alone."

She might eat someone.

"I don't bite," Ginger promised sweetly.

"That's not exactly—" Since Tommy moved out of the way before his brother could push up the sleeve of his shirt, Timmy just shut up.

"You're not an annoying little twerp," Ginger said. "Don't you want to make sure I'm safe?"

Bert glanced over at Dinah and must have decided that Ginger wasn't going to be safe if she stayed in the room for much longer. "Let's go then," he said briskly, rising to his feet. There wasn't any use in pretending—Ginger got to her feet and turned to smile right at my sister (I mean, we could pretend she was talking to Francy, but she wasn't). "Thanks for dinner. See you later."

"Bye," my sister managed to choke out as Francy waved.

Ginger grabbed Bert's hand as they headed to the door. The poor guy was trying to peel her off him without looking like he was running away from a girl who wasn't even in high school yet. Her house was just two streets over. I wondered if he'd make it.

When the door closed, I would have laughed, but Dinah was already standing up and glaring at all of us.

"What the hell was that about?"

"She hates you," Judy muttered.

"I am trying to look out for her. Unlike everyone else," Dinah said to Brian. He growled back (just a little bit).

"Sometimes it's not what you say, Di, it's how you say it," Francy offered quietly.

"And why does she think harassing Bert is going to annoy me?"

Brian was so, so dead.

"She has eyes, Dinah," he said.

"Oh, please. You told her."

Brian would have gone on not telling Ginger about the whole imprinting thing, but she'd thrown a fit about having to move to La Push, far away from her sisters, so he'd explained that she was his imprint and that meant she was super important to the pack (he'd told her about the pack last year and she hadn't breathed a word—she could keep her mouth shut, at least, even if she couldn't keep it off anyone). And Dinah wasn't wrong—Brian had explained that there were other imprints, like Dinah and Francy (imprints we were NOT having sex with).

"Isn't Bert a little young for her?" Kyle asked Francy. Quietly enough that Dinah didn't hear, but not so quietly that us werewolves didn't. Will and I didn't dare look at each other; Dinah would break her hand punching us if we laughed.

"He didn't tell her anything she shouldn't know," I interrupted. Like hell Kyle needed to know our business. And even Ester shouldn't really know until Brian decided he wanted to explain or not. "If she's annoying you—"

"She's not doing anything to me," Dinah lied. Very, very badly. "I don't think you understand the part where she's _thirteen_."

Judy had been busy settling Art into Bert's abandoned spot, but now she called, "I think she's just plotting with Bert to get Simon."

"Even though he's a jerk," Tommy said.

"And his face is lopsided," Timmy added.

Art shrugged. "She says he's fun."

"And _also_ three years older than her," Dinah pointed out. "Bert shouldn't be encouraging her."

"She'd do it anyway," Art said. "Only this way annoys you more."

"I'm bored," Judy announced. "Let's play charades."

"Seriously, jelly bean?" Baxter spoke for all of us.

"It'll be fun," she said, standing up and switching off the game, despite the protests of the Uley boys. Art had barely gotten to play and the twins had been beating her—teamed up, they were impossible to beat. "Okay, so what are the teams?"

Since it wasn't the worst idea ever—and Dinah was still making me nervous—I decided, "Let's just split in half. Alphabetically?"

"Or not," Brian muttered.

"It's fair." One set of twins on each team. Dinah and Will split. My sisters split. I was with Kara. Francy and Kyle split.

"All of the crazy competitive people are on your team," Baxter said.

"That's not true," Judy lied. "You have Dinah."

"I resent that," Dinah also lied.

"I resent this," Will whined. "I'm not going to throw a fit if I don't win charades."

"Just sulk," Francy said.

Will didn't dignify that with a response. He just turned to Kyle and said, "Let's go join our team."

Beside me, Judy growled at me. "Be nice to him."

"Better us than leave him with the Uleys."

Besides, Will quickly abandoned Kyle so he could sit down with the twins and help them cheat better. Judy could be nice to Kyle for everyone.

She was. She was so nice to Kyle that by the end of the night I think he had a little crush. My imprint thought so too, if the way she muttered to Dinah, "If Baxter punches him tonight, do I really want to stop him?" was any indication. Dinah just muttered back, "Why can't they _all _just jump into a volcano?" Dinah wouldn't have been in such a bad move if Bert hadn't taken forty-five minutes to come back.

I don't remember who won.

* * *

><p>"We did the best we could," Kara said to me as we walked Bert home. Will came too, but he was quiet beside Bert.<p>

"We'd have had a chance if Dinah hadn't been quite so determined to win," I grumbled. "Though, kid, you could probably do worse than Ginger. I mean, sure you could do a lot better..."

"She has absolutely no interest in me," Bert said quickly.

"I kind of think the two of you would be kind of cute," Kara offered. "If you liked her."

"No," Will said. It was all he said, but he was very firm about it.

"We're just friends," Bert agreed. "Even if she's really..."

"Hook up with Kara's friends, if you must," Will instructed him. Beside me, my girlfriend's eyes lit up.

"I could do that," she offered. "If—I mean, if you wanted."

"I don't think so," Bert said eventually. We were at his house, but he finished his thought. "Brian seemed annoyed I was with her. Have you noticed that the more he worries about Ginger, the more he seems to enjoy spending time with Ester?"

I frowned, then thought it over. "Sort of, yeah."

Bert said, "So the more time I spend with Ginger, the less time Brian will spend with..."

With Dinah.

Well, if it didn't all blow up in his face, it would be worth a try.


	30. Chapter 30

In the middle of August, my uncle announced that a visitor was coming to, well, visit. Since I could use the term visitor in front of my grandmother while saying fuck buddy would get me slapped upside the head, I helped my parents host a welcome to La Push party for Seth's 'visitor.'

Nessie showed up in a low cut sundress that made me decide that if Seth WASN'T tapping that, I'd have to kick him out of the pack.

After dinner, I was thinking about kicking him out of the pack anyway.

After we all sat down, my dad got up and sucked up to my mom for a good long while, then sucked up to my grandmother (she wasn't at all impressed), then said he hoped this meant my uncle wasn't going to leave anytime soon (that made my grandmother smile) and added how very happy he was that Nessie was here. My mother raised her glass, led the toasts, and didn't look too much like she wanted to puke.

Both my parents then turned to Nessie, who turned to Seth, who laughed and told her, "You should tell them."

"Tell us what?" my grandmother demanded. The old lady didn't like anything getting past her.

"Yeah," I said, "Tell us what?"

"Well," Nessie said as she got to her feet, "I went for an interview at the hospital a couple of days ago. And yesterday, yesterday they offered me the job. I'm going to take it. It's time to..."

"Come home," my uncle offered.

She nodded, though I don't see how she could have meant it. This wasn't her home. But she was coming here.

It was very quiet it my backyard for a moment.

"That's great," Judy said. She meant it, too. The rest of us...well, we echoed her, though I wasn't sure how much everyone else meant it. It would be nice having my uncle around more permanently (though with my uncle it was always possible that he had other super hot girlfriends stashed in other corners of the planet). My parents seemed surprised, and not exactly thrilled, but they didn't look TOO unhappy about it.

"You're not going to keep living with us, are you?" my grandmother asked.

"I'm sorry to have imposed on you. We didn't want to say anything in case the the job fell through. I can move out—"

"Stay as long as you want," Charlie said. It was rare that he spoke up when all of us were around. Grandma Sue nodded along, so I guess she wasn't too upset, just wanted to know how many she had to look after.

"We've got most of our stuff up at the Cullen place," Seth said. "There's just some work I want to finish there before we move in."

"Wow, Seth." My mother might have been mocking her younger brother. Probably. She usually was. "It only took you seven years to decide to settle down."

"Five," Seth said, sticking out his tongue. But he also took Nessie's hand. She blushed (I think she even rolled her eyes, a little). "And we've lived together before. We were living together in Tbilisi."

"We shared a bedroom with three other people, Seth. I don't think that counts," Nessie said patiently.

My uncle waved his hand, dismissing her objection. "I accidentally used your toothbrush once or twice. It counts."

"Why do you need a toothbrush?" Judy asked the half-vampire. "It's not like you can get cavities, right?"

I had much more important question to ask (even if it didn't come out as a question).

"You can't have been together for five years." Everyone in the backyard turned my way, but I didn't care. "Seth was with all—"

There was a sharp pain in my shin. Pains. Dinah. Judy.

Baxter, too.

"Seth has a lot of girl friends," my mother said dryly.

"He has a lot of friends," Nessie said. If I was as hot as Nessie, I'd spend the day in front of the mirror looking at myself naked. Why did my uncle need friends if he had her?

"I'm really super hungry," Judy declared. "Can we eat yet?"

So we did.

* * *

><p>After dinner, I hunted Nessie down quickly.<p>

"You should have asked me before you just decided to move," I told her, glaring down. "We aren't looking to have any more of us phase."

"I may be half-vampire, but as your father's imprint you don't have to defend yourself against me."

She had a point. A small one, but a point. If the magical phasing force, or whatever it was, saw her as pack (and as my father's imprint, I guess she was pack) then we didn't have to worry about the kids phasing no matter how long she stuck around. It still would have been nice not to have this all just dropped on me.

Maybe she got that because she sounded apologetic when she next spoke. "I promised you I'd look around for you."

"Did you find something? You said maybe we could work for the V—"

"I misjudged the situation. I don't think it's...it would be better if you did not align yourself with the Volturi at this time."

"Oh. Okay."

"However," she said slowly, "There is a civil war going on right now in South America. The Volturi aren't as mindful of threats if they are far away from their home. Vampires don't like e-mail. Besides, disruptive vampires tend not to want to tell the Volturi what they're up to. Columbia should be safe."

"You want us to go and settle this civil war?"

"The vampires are a dangerous to us all. Even if the Volturi did find out...they should be grateful, that you settled the dispute before more humans noticed."

"How many are we talking about?"

"When vampires fight like this, they tend to make newborns very quickly. I would think about six dozen or so."

"We can't fight that many."

"Not all at once, no. But they're not united. The trick would be to take out enough before they realize they're under attack and band together."

"Okay," I said slowly. "Hold that thought. Brian!"

I knew my strengths. If there was a fight going on, I was your guy. If we were talking about getting into a war, I wanted Brian and Will there. Will was working today, but Brian left Ester with my sisters and listened as Nessie repeated her idea.

I tried not to think about all the people who were getting caught in the cross-fire.

"Sounds like we're being set up," Brian said finally. "We take care of this problem. The Volturi say we shouldn't have. They take us out."

"That's not my intent," she promised.

"Hey guys," Seth interrupted, "What are you three up to over here?"

Not that he even needed her to use her freaky powers to explain. They didn't bother touching; she just immediately started to explain:

"There is a great deal of difference between theory and practice. You've killed a few lone vampires. So what? You don't have any experience with a large group. This is a way of getting it. It's dangerous, of course." She sighed. "But that never seems to influence your decisions."

"I think she just called our dads adrenaline junkies," I said to Brian.

"Your dad. My dad is nice and boring."

"Let's see how nice he is when we tell him about this."

"When was the last time you guys fought a vampire?" Seth asked us. It had been a long time and my uncle read that in my expression. "Well, you've got time to think this over. Come on, Ness. I promised Judy you'd show her our adventures at the waterfall."

"I told you you were standing too close," Nessie murmured as they headed off. My mind was still on the vampires.

"I'll talk to Will tonight," Brian said, "See what he thinks. I don't think he'll like it anymore than I do. Bert might be okay with it, but Baxter—and our parents aren't going to let us run all the way down there, Levi."

"So we just let them fight it out? No matter how many people they kill?"

"We'd be leaving the rez undefended." It was supposed to stop me in my tracks; it kind of worked.

"It's not like it's under attack. A single wolf could do it, really." Judy. No, I'd take her with me so I could watch over her. I'd take Baxter with me for sure, but I could leave one of the other three behind.

"You'd be okay with leaving someone behind?"

Well, no. But I could do it.

"We'd be saving people's lives."

I could almost hear Will growling that we'd be risking our lives for people we didn't know. We had no choice about protecting La Push; he wouldn't be happy that I wanted us to save the world, too. I wasn't going to get much more support from Brian. A little more (because Brian would want to help other people), but not much more because the price for helping other people this time might be his brothers and Brian wouldn't go for that.

"We'll meet up tomorrow," I told Brian. "I'm going to get more food."

* * *

><p>While the party was still going on, I went on patrol to clear my head. Running as a wolf made things simpler, usually. It helped clarify a few things, though that just made my headache worse.<p>

1) Vampires killed people  
>2) We were supposed to kill vampires<br>3) The half-vampire had found some vampires for us to kill  
>4) I was going to have to put up one hell of a fight if I wanted to get my pack to agree with me on this<p>

It was dangerous, first and foremost, and I couldn't guarantee we were up for the challenge because we hadn't been tested like this EVER. Our parents would kill us for travelling so far away to fulfill some supernatural bargain they hadn't been able to get out of and that they sure as hell didn't want for us. Not to mention school was starting school and I knew Judy (the freak) was looking forward to it a lot.

After being so freaked out about what'd she'd done in Seattle, did I really want to order my little sister into the middle of a civil war?

It didn't help I didn't trust Nessie, either, when it came down to it.

(And not just because my uncle hadn't wanted to tell the world he was dating a vampire)

Judy popped in briefly to tell me we'd moved the party the Uleys. Nessie had gone home with Grandma and Charlie. The house was quiet when I got back. I was quiet when I got back.

In the backyard, my parents were laughing at my uncle.

"We did some mental math—" More laughter; I think my parents were a little tipsy, or just really glad the party was over and our house hadn't sustained any structural damage this time. "Yes, boys, I can count. Seriously, Seth. You guys have been together longer than five years. Haven't you?"

"We told Rosalie five years ago," Seth explained. "Nessie wanted to wait until...I don't know."

"You never know," my father said and they laughed again.

"I don't," Seth agreed. "But it makes her happy."

Most of what he did, I thought, was with a shrug and a smile of satisfaction, knowing that it made her happy. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Is she trying to return the favour? Is that why she's coming here?" my mother said. She wasn't laughing anymore.

"Leah."

"It's not that I'm not glad, Seth. I'm glad she's coming." My mother sounded almost convincing. "I'm glad you're it sounds likes you're going to be around for good. But after all this time...Jake?"

"Nessie's going to be bored at the hospital. Aren't too many people around here and most of them die of boring old things. Not that there's anything else to do around here but die. And—well, you know."

"What?"

My father cleared his throat and—nothing. I think he must have been glaring at my mother (which never worked, because she just glared right back). After a few moments, my mother must have decided it was humiliating that no one in my family was talking.

"You always talk about how hard it is for her to make friends—"

"She's shy. And forgets she needs to use her vocal chords sometimes. She'll be fine."

"In the place where she's the white woman who stole you away?"

"I don't think I like what you're saying," my uncle said flatly.

My mother sighed. "Because you've never liked reality. People have always talked and they've never liked that you put us second to her—"

"That is not—"

"And it'll just get a thousand times worse when they meet her and she's _just so_—" My uncle growled; sometimes it was easy to forget he was still a wolf, too. "I know it's my fault Jake and I don't know her as well as we could. I'm not saying I don't like her, though, or that the pack won't do its best for her. Just that I can't make other people like her and I can't stop people from talking so why in the world would she want to move here?"

"You're underestimating people," my uncle said.

"Hopefully," my father said. "But Nessie doesn't strike me as an optimist. So why did she choose to come here?"

There was a long silence, where I tried to make myself breathe as quietly as I could. I was interested in his answer, if there was another besides the obvious (moving back here would be the most amusing revenge anyone had ever taken on my parents; if she was angry my father hadn't been a better imprint, this was the perfect way of getting him back).

"You don't want to tell us?" my father asked when the silence stretched too long. "Or is she afraid to tell you?"

They gave my uncle time to decide what he wanted to say. I didn't move but I was pretty sure he knew I was there and what he was deciding had as much to do with what I should hear as what my parents could.

"The Cullens are pulling back to North America."

"What does Alice see?"

"There are lots of things Alice can't see. Magics she can't...we aren't the only ones out there that can hide in her blind spots."

My parents digested that. Then: "Who's Nessie scared of?"

"And is she sending our children to fight it?" My mother laughed, bitterly. "I might not have werewolf hearing anymore, Seth, but I can read my son. She wants them to go fight."

"No. She wants them—there's seven of us. We're not like the others. We're born, not made. If there's something out there that wants us gone, we don't have much hope of surviving it. Don't—" his voice softened. "Nessie grew up with vampires, Leah. She thinks in terms of decades, centuries. Whatever she's afraid of...it will most likely come to pass long after you've—Perhaps even long after our people have gone."

"Have you talked to her...?" My father didn't sound like an old Alpha. He sounded unsure. "How long are you going to stay phased?"

"I don'y know."

"You should talk to her."

"It upsets her. Makes her think she should leave me for my own good and that's not happening while I can still put up a fight."

"Seth—"

"We have a long time before it matters, Jake. I'll worry about it then."

"Whatever happens," my mother's voice was firm, "You are always my brother. You can always come home."

"You getting soft, Leah?"

"She's always been soft," my father said, voice full of love. "Ow. Leah."

"You want to see soft, you should see his stomach," she told her brother.

"Traitor."

My uncle laughed as my mother tried to get my father to lift up his shirt and show his old pack mate the flab that had made itself quite at home on his belly.

* * *

><p>When I headed over to the Uleys the next morning, I already had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do. I was hoping Will might be over; even Brian wasn't there, off at work. But Baxter was there (which meant Judy was there) and if Bert wasn't around, Francy was.<p>

"You better not," Baxter growled at me the second he opened the door.

"Hello to you, too," I muttered. Then I walked passed him. Judy and Francy were around the breakfast table, so I said to my sister, "Try to come home once in a while."

"Sorry." She sounded like she meant it, too, but that wasn't the point. For all that I wasn't the big on rules, I did sort of see my mother's point about this one.

"I'm not saying you can't visit. Just try not to spend the night."

"I just—" My sister looked over to Baxter, who sat down beside her, letting her curl around his arm. "Dinah used to just lock herself in the bathroom for a couple of minutes and then she'd be fine. I can't—it takes me a lot longer to fall back asleep."

"Dinah has nightmares?"

The only thing that scared Dinah was losing her voice—and even then I was sure she'd boss around the rest of us using sign language.

"She used to get them really bad. I—I wasn't supposed to tell, but, yeah. A long time ago, though."

"Something about her idiot family getting arrested or dying young or something," Francy offered me. "And black ballerina flats. But none of that means she wouldn't want you talking to her if you needed her, Judith."

"I just don't want to wake her up."

Judy didn't want to touch her. I could understand that. That didn't mean she could just bother the Uleys.

"But you can wake up Baxter and Artie?"

"She doesn't wake up Art anymore," Baxter defended her. "And I don't need as much sleep."

"And he gets cranky if I don't," Judy said, smiling up at him. The two of them were disgusting.

"Mom is going to find out and kill us all." Not that they cared.

"Speaking of killing," Baxter said, refusing to be distracted anymore (only Judy would have worked and even she didn't work for long). "Brian talked to us last night. And—"

"We're not going to do it," I interrupted. I didn't want to listen to him go on and on. Also, he was kind of tense about it. That was never a good thing in a pack of temperamental werewolves. "We're not leaving La Push. People want a fight, they have to come to us."

I'd gone out for another run, trying to figure out if I should be worried that a half-vampire who barely knew me was worried my pack couldn't fight whatever it was she was afraid of. Chances were it wasn't coming for us; we killed the Cold Ones, but only those who came on our land. More likely, they would be coming for her and hers. We'd protect her. I wasn't too sure about her family. I think it would depend on how senile my old man was and how much Seth complained. As I ran, all that was supposed to start getting simpler. Instead, I remembered something that made none of that matter.

I'd promised Art.

I promised Arthur Uley I would do my best to make sure he didn't phase. That meant I couldn't go looking for trouble, no matter how little we knew about fighting more than one vampire. I had promised. I would do my best for the stupid kid.

Let the Volturi take care of their mouth down south. I couldn't.

"Good." Baxter must have decided he didn't hate me because he added, "I'll spread the word. You might want to avoid Will for a while."

I was blood. He'd do anything for me. But if Benji got a paper cut because of me, he'd kill me as slowly as he could.

"Thanks."

"Brian was saying something about studying guerrilla warfare," Judy said. "I didn't really follow, but he seemed kind of into it."

"Okay."

"Good. You wanna come with us?" Judy asked me. "We're picking up Kara and going back-to-school shopping."

Baxter was going to watch her drive (Judy didn't need anyone watching her when she drove; she was better at it than I was, but it made my parents, and probably Kara, feel a bit better about the whole thing). But I hadn't been interested in school while I was IN school; my feelings hadn't changed since I'd been allowed to escape.

"We're going to the Cullen house when we're done," my sister tried again. There was no way my girlfriend was going to hang around the vampire (my girlfriend had sense, unlike my sister). "Nessie said we could help her paint some of the rooms. She's going to pay us."

"And feed us," Baxter added. More importantly. "Bert's going to meet us there, so you wouldn't be the only one just showing up."

"I'm fine," I promised and watched them head out.

Francy started spreading papers over the table. I asked her, "Brian's not pissed at me, is he?"

"He's more worried you'll be disappointed—he thought you'd do the right thing. He just didn't think you'd like it."

"Yeah, well, I could be totally screwing us all over." Or screwing our children over, or their grandchildren. I was definitely screwing over all those people down there who didn't have a hope in hell against the vampires without us. But we couldn't leave La Push to fight a war without risking forcing our entire tribe into total war mode and we didn't deserve that. Brian and Will would think of something; here were other ways of getting experience that didn't risk the kids. Right? There had to be; I'd find them. "Tell him I'll come by tonight."

"Anything else?"

"Nope. Thanks."

I headed out, but she called my name before I could leave. While I still wasn't exactly sure where the two of us stood, I don't think I could ever ignore her.

"Thank you," she said slowly. "For remembering you don't have the right."

You're welcome. It was two damn words and I was right by the door. How hard would it have been to just say that and take off? It seemed like she did appreciate it, really was grateful, really was smiling at me in a way she didn't usually. In a way I kind of liked.

"You're probably going to throw something at me, but, well, I kind of do. Maybe not over you, but your brothers? I have the right. The responsibility, too. But, yeah."

She wasn't smiling by the time I finished. I expected that. It didn't mean I wasn't right. She could pretend if she wanted, but she'd be wrong. She'd done enough pretending from what I saw—she needed to face up to the truth. I was in charge. It might not be what she wanted, it might not even have been what I wanted, but that's the way it was.

"I see."

"I'm not saying—I wouldn't make them do it if they didn't want to. Not unless it was super important. Just that, well, I could. And they'd have to listen. That's just the way things are."

"Does it ever worry you, Levi? That the first thing in your life you ever took responsibility for is their entire lives?"

"Go big or go home." She gave me half a smile so I thought I'd push my luck. "I'm thinking about having that tattooed on my giant dick."

"You should do that. Nice cursive letters."

"Keep it classy," I agreed. "And it's not the first thing I've taken responsibility for."

"I don't know," she said quietly. "I think there was a long while there where Daddy made sure you didn't have to worry that actions had consequences."

There might have been a tiny bit of truth in that, though only my father and the Council would really know for sure. I like to imagine that I was just that good, thank you very much, especially then when I hadn't wanted ANYTHING from him.

"You ever call Will that to his face?"

She snorted. She hadn't meant to, if the expression on her face a second later was any indication, but she so had. I was that funny. She couldn't help replying, either.

"Why do you think he spent most of high school mad at me?"

"I KNEW it was sexual frustration."

"The two of you are going to have spectacular sex tonight." Francy let that unwanted image sink in; she didn't need to look like she enjoyed it so much (there was a reason I still wouldn't kick her out of bed if Kara ever decided she wanted to expand our horizons). "Baxter's right. Will's not very happy with you right now."

"I wouldn't let something happen to the kids."

"All right." The smile I didn't mind was back. "Then thank you for that."

Sometimes it took me a while to get things. Like then. She was trying. This was her way of trying to make me understand she was grateful, that she didn't think I sucked at the whole thing even if she wasn't totally on board just yet. Whatever. We had time. I had eternity as of right then. She'd come around completely one day. Until then, I'd take what I could get.

This time I said what I should have at the beginning: "You're welcome."


	31. Chapter 31

Since I had been expecting it all summer, it really wasn't much of a surprise when my mom came home one day and tried to kill my sister.

Kara was over and the three of us were just hanging out. My evil sister was trying AGAIN to convince Kara to visit the vampire's house despite the fact that, you know, evil vampires and the pieces Jared had to be buried in. Judy didn't get that, or didn't want to get that, because she just kept going on and on about how nice Nessie was and we should all go over there and paint each other's toe nails or something equally stupid.

As Judy was explaining yet again that Nessie was wonderful (she must be one hell of a cook), my mother came home.

She was not happy.

Everyone could tell. Kara looked like she wanted to leave; I tried to will her to say. My mother was a smart lady. She'd be less likely to commit murder if there were witnesses. Kara must have gotten that because she stayed despite Mom's barely civil hello.

"Come help me in the kitchen, Judith," Mom snarled. My little sister went. Kara looked at me with big eyes: "What's going on?"

She didn't need superhearing to figure it out. My mom started out calm. It didn't last.

"I spoke to Sam today. What in the world are you doing SLEEPING AT YOUR BOYFRIEND'S HOUSE?"

"Should I go?" Kara whispered to me. I shook my head; she would have to get too close to the kitchen to leave. It was safer to keep her beside me.

Judy was protesting they weren't getting up to anything and Mom was taking that about as well as could be expected—that is, my mother was totally losing her shit and my sister was never going to see the light of day ever again. After reminding Kara that my sister the werewolf and my mother were in the kitchen, so she should stay far away, I made my way over.

Since Mom hadn't paused for breath, Judy had just pressed herself into the corner, shaking, but not too badly, crying just a little.

"She's not lying," I told my mom. "She is just sleeping there."

Well, okay, there was some dirty talk and a bit of light groping, but Art was there and Baxter was a prude, so they weren't getting up to anything too bad. My mother should have been more worried about all those times they headed over to see Nessie (there was a lot of forest between us and the Cullens).

"When I want your opinion about _my_ daughter, Levi, I'll ask for it."

"She's been having nightmares."

"Did it not occur to anyone that you could come to me? Or your father? That maybe, as your parents, we might not be totally useless?"

"Like you've always been SO useful?"

It was jut habit—I hadn't it meant it for a long while.

"Levi," Judy mumbled. "It's fine. I shouldn't've..."

"You wouldn't let us help." Mom wasn't looking at me—she concentrated on the kid she didn't hate just now. "You're just sixteen. I'm supposed to worry about you."

"I just feel better when he's there."

My sister had always been very good with honesty. Not just being honest, though she was probably the most open person I knew, but making sure you knew she was telling truth. She could make you believe you could read everything and anything about her. All you had to do was ask. Even Mom couldn't stay pissed in the face of that.

"It's not healthy to—you need to get through things by yourself."

The last time my mother had done anything that wasn't by committee must have been twenty years ago, but I didn't bring it up. I would have, only Judy beat me to it.

"Dad was, like, my age when you guys got together."

"He was _not_ sixteen. And we waited until we were married to sleep in the same bed."

"No, you didn't. He told me you'd stay at his place because you could always here Grandpa coming because of his wheelchair."

My father was so dead—he must have sensed this because he chose that moment to come home. "Everything okay?" he asked as he came through the door.

"Our son thinks we're terrible parents and our daughter is proving him right," Mom announced. "How was your day?"

"Which one of you am I supposed to yell at?" Dad asked. Judy burst into tears; Mom huffed and pretended she was busy making dinner. Dad figured out the time for jokes was passed and looked to me for a recap.

"Sam told Mom that Judy tends to go over there in the middle of the night sometimes. I—I didn't mean anything, Mom."

"Yes, you did." She didn't sound mad, though. She didn't turn around, either. Shit.

"Why would you go to Sam's?" Dad asked Judy. He was an idiot. It was a miracle the vampires hadn't overrun La Push years ago.

"It's just that when I have a nightmare, I can't go to sleep again unless I tell Baxter. But, Dad—" my sister hurried to say "—we just talk a little and then it's dark and late and he doesn't want me coming home, so he just lets me sleep there. We don't do anything. Levi knows. Brian wanted us to stop so they made sure we weren't doing anything. Swearies."

My poor father looked like he'd just swallowed a lemon covered in hot sauce. The mental images, maybe. Maybe he hadn't even gotten as far as pictures. Judy. Baxter. Bed. It might have been enough to short circuit him. Under his breath, he muttered, "I should have ordered them away from her. I should have..."

"Dad—"

"How often do you go over there?"

"Just when I can't sleep."

If my father assumed she meant when she had nightmares, then it was his own fault. If 'can't sleep' really meant, 'get lonely after five minutes' Judy would have explained it if he'd bothered to ask.

"Sam said she's been there practically every night this week," Mom said.

"Sam didn't think to mention it sooner?"

"He...wasn't sure."

While Dad did not look happy, he's expression when he turned to Judy was soft. "If the nightmares were getting that bad you should have told me. We'll get Nessie to find you someone to talk to, okay?"

Judy nodded quickly.

"Meanwhile," Mom said, "You're grounded until further notice."

"That's not going to help," Dad said.

"She's been sneaking out of the house to see her boyfriend!"

"She's upset!"

"Every night?"

"Did your mother tell you to ignore this, too?" My father demanded.

"Dinah was _fine_—" Mom didn't sound that convincing, even though no one argued with Grandma Sue. And Dinah was always fine. "Judy's using this as an excuse."

"I can't believe!—Hello, Kara." It was twenty of years of phasing that allowed my father to calm down that quickly. "I didn't know you were here."

"I was just going," my girlfriend said. "I hope you guys...have a good dinner. Levi—yeah."

"He'll walk you home," Dad decided.

"He can't," Judy burst out. Not when she was this upset, she meant.

They were picking at a sore subject (she was defensive about Baxter in a way she didn't get about anything else; I tried not to think about that too much). Worse, my sister hated watching people fighting worse than she hated them yelling at her. If they were going to go after each other...

But I would bet my parents' lives that she wouldn't get mad. And she sure as hell wouldn't hurt anyone. Not anymore. She'd stay in her corner until she got everything under control and my parents had been wolves long enough to know how close they could get in the meantime.

"You'll be fine," I promised her. We had a staring contest; I won. Obviously. She nodded eventually.

"You'll do great," I could hear Kara say, even as I herded her towards the door. My parents managed to hold it in until we closed the door behind us. Barely. Once we were safely outside, Kara asked, "Is everything...?"

"They'll get over it. I should probably be more worried about what Sam's going to do to Baxter." They were my wolves—like hell Sam would be able to tell she was there if they were trying to be quiet. There was no way he'd had anything more than a hunch and Judy's insistence on eating breakfast there every morning. But when Mom told him his suspicions were right, he was going to kill his son. It would be funny—but I kind of liked having Baxter alive.

Since her mother was working late tonight... "Can we still call it a road trip if we're just walking down the street?"

Kara grinned. "We can pretend."

So we did.

* * *

><p>Since Francy was out tonight, Brian had gotten dinner ready earlier. They were done by the time we showed up. The twins were in the front, playing basketball. Art was inside playing the drums. Sam and the wolves were in the backyard finishing up desert.<p>

Thoughtful like I was, I helped them out with the food that was lying around (Kara started nibbling too, when Brian said it was okay). Sam had been putting on a lot of weight since he stopped phasing; I was just helping him out. Besides, I wasn't going home any time soon and it was Baxter's fault, so they owed me. I couldn't explain that, though, until Sam got up and left us alone.

When he did, I didn't waste time:

"My mother's going to castrate you."

Baxter flinched, but seemed to have expected it. After Kara explained the details, Brian was the one who sighed. "I warned you. Dad's really not going to like this."

"Ester shows up in your room in the middle of the night and you kick her out?" Baxter asked.

"Of course, he would."

Not that she was sexually frustrated. I'd asked. She'd rolled her eyes and explained it she didn't like _eating _cucumbers (I was nine-tenths convinced she was joking and a hundred percent turned on).

Brian blushed. "I'm not saying...I'm just thinking this whole training thing Levi wants to do isn't going to work if you're grounded for the next year."

"I'll talk them down to a few weeks," I promised.

It's not like Sam could totally ground the kid. He was starting school soon—something business-y that Will had picked out for reasons the adults were trying to ignore. Baxter had started working for my Dad part-time this summer and he was going to keep that up through the year, too. And if one day he could take over the business side of the garage, then that was a totally cool coincidence.

Sam had thrown a fit anyway, but my cousin had managed to convince him that Baxter could use the school stuff for other things. Baxter would have worked for my Dad without any backup plan for if he and Judy ever broke up; at least this way there was a backup plan. Sam still wasn't happy, but he had accepted it.

"A few months'll give you time to go through the library Brian's collected," Baxter said.

Brain explained: "Well, I don't know anything about fighting. Our fathers just made it up as they went along. So I figured if we read a bit...I know it's not a great idea—"

"No, that could be fun." I grinned. "I mean, as long as you do the reading and I get the telepathic upgrade."

"I figured," Brian said, but he was smiling. It would be kind of fun. It would give us half a purpose, at least. Not that we could do much with only seven of us. Still, we'd have fun trying.

"I'm going to head over to your place," Baxter decided, standing up. "I'll see you."

"Sit," I warned him. "Mom was right. She needs to do some shit without you."

"Even your parents can't be pissed for this long," Baxter said. He sat, but he didn't like it. "I'm sure everything is calm by now."

"Wait another fifteen minutes."

Baxter did and he did it without making sure I knew how unhappy he was about it. The kid could hold his temper—it was a useful skill if you were going to date someone in my family.

Fifteen minutes later (exactly), he was gone.

"I think it's sweet," Kara defended them. "Mostly."

"He doesn't want to be around when Leah calls Dad," Brian pointed out. Smart boy.

Brian set about telling us about the books he'd gotten. And a bunch about Spanish history which I wasn't following, but I'd pick up when we phased. It kind of made Kara nervous, all the fighting talk, though even she got into it when Brian started using the cutlery to demonstrate. It made things easier to follow, too.

The spoons were making a startling comeback (despite how few there were) when Francy showed up, hair in long loose waves around her face, wearing something short and white and almost see-through, with heels that might have made her taller than Will.

"You look nice," Brian said as she sat down beside him.

"You sound surprised. Kyle and I broke up."

"Oh no," Kara said.

"What a shame," I said. Francy used a knife to fling the last of the lettuce at me. I laughed; she followed suit. Brian was wasting his breath when he asked:

"You okay?"

Francy was leaving on Monday. Four days left. It didn't surprise me when she said, "It was sort of a mutual thing. I'm fine. Kyle..."

"Is he okay?" Kara asked. She even sounded concerned; my girlfriend was probably a much better person than I was.

"He's mostly just hurt he didn't think of it first."

"If he only had a brain," Brian muttered. Then, when he realized he'd said that out loud, he added, "We're going to miss Kyle."

"No, we're not."

Francy laughed. "Thank you for your honesty, Levi. It's fine, Brian. I liked him, but if we're being totally honest with each other, mostly I liked him because he had a great ass."

Brian pushed her in the shoulder; she was laughing as she stood up. She offered to take in some of the plates, but Brian waved her off. Will showed up while they were still talking about dishes; he looked tired. Since I was having group bonding time this weekend, he'd been busy, trying to make up for taking the whole weekend off. It made him cranky. He growled at me as he sat down and Kara decided Francy could use some comforting. She helped with the dishes, as Brian offered Will the remaining buns (they were a little hard, but edible).

I told him, "Good news and bad news," as the girls left.

"She broke up with him? But you're family's so good with long distance," Will said. Brian slugged him; Will got that it was only fair. He turned to me: "That better have been the bad news."

"You obviously didn't walk by my house on your way here."

He would have heard my parents otherwise.

It was mostly Sam we were worried about. Mom wanted to punish Judy, but Dad would fight for her, so it wouldn't be too bad. Unless Dad found out that she was fudging the truth (Judy bursting into tears and confessing was always possible) at which point I had no idea what would happen.

"But at least this way you dad's going to get her someone to talk to," Brian said.

"Has she had a nightmare the past month?" Will asked.

It was hard to tell; her desire to cuddle was more of a factor here than lingering guilt (she still had that, I was sure, but I don't think it was waking her up any more).

"She just doesn't like sleeping alone," I said.

"If your brother knocks her up so help me," Will muttered. He glared at me as he spoke to Brian; he remembered too much.

"My brother adores her."

"He doesn't even care that they barely..." It was mystifying.

"That's not everything," Brian said.

"It's something, though."

It was the most Will had admitted in months. And Brian didn't look like he totally disagreed, either. Sure, he liked taking his relationship with Ester slow (and she was cool with that, sure), but that didn't mean he couldn't pick up the pace just a little bit.

"It's sad that he's still getting more than the two of you combined. Hell, I bet Bert is getting more than the two of you combined."

"Bert is too busy working, unlike some people, and pining over Dinah, like some others."

"I so work."

Brian didn't say anything because he wasn't pining over Dinah. They didn't hang out much anymore, but he and my sister seemed like they were good. Hell, when Francy was off with Kyle, they sometimes hung out (they brought me along, but they hung out—and they talked to each other more than they talked to me). They'd get there.

"Though he is probably right about Baxter," Brian offered Will. My cousin rolled his eyes, but laughed too.

"That's on Judy, not your brother," Will said.

"I did not need to know that," I announced. "Ever."

"She's related to you, what did you expect?"

When the two of us couldn't help glancing curiously at Brian, he laughed at us. "I like my balls attached, thank you very much. Talk to Dinah yourselves."

None of us were that suicidal.

"If you guys just put a little effort in, you could totally catch up." They rolled their eyes and pretended to ignore me. "I'm serious. You're not hideously deformed. Hell, Brian, you have a fucking girlfriend. It wouldn't be hard."

"We're not there yet," he said gruffly.

But a thought had come into my head that was perfect. "Twenty bucks says you can't get her to sleep with you."

"I'm not sleeping with Ester for a bet, Levi," Brian growled. I turned to Will.

"I'd consider sleeping with Ester for a bet." Brian punched my cousin again, but didn't quite manage to hold in his laughter. "But twenty bucks sure as hell isn't enough."

It had been over a year.

I had to do SOMETHING.

"Five hundred bucks." I wasn't joking and they got that soon enough because the laughter stopped and Will started grinding his teeth. "Five hundred bucks says you can't sleep with someone. Anyone."

"You don't have five hundred bucks," Will snapped.

"Guys..."

"I will."

"You don't, Levi. You work when you feel like it—and then you give it to me. Trust me, you don't have five hundred dollars. If you didn't eat for months, you still couldn't save up five hundred dollars if your life deepened on it."

"You that scared?"

Will looked like he was stroking out.

"I'd win. And then you'd spend the rest of eternity paying me."

"Is this you chickening out or accepting?"

"He's just saying you should be a little more responsible with money," Brian translated. I think he was rubbing circles on Will's back. "You probably could be. I know it's my fault you need to be—"

"It's your father's fault," Will said between clenched teeth. "And Levi didn't have to help. But he decided we were going to help your family, so maybe he could remember that every once in a while."

"So that's a no?"

Will stood up, but he didn't march away. I think it was so he could better reach across the table to strangle me at the right moment. "What part accounting for every dime did you miss? What part of working constantly did you think the rest of us found fun? What—"

"The table already broke once this year, William," Francy said from behind me. "Try not to do it again?"

He sat back down in a huff, while Brian said, "Hey, this is great. You didn't phase," and I turned around and wondered why the hell my imprint thought it was necessary to bring my girlfriend back out here. Francy just pushed Kara towards us and asked, "Is everything all right?"

"Levi's going to pay me five hundred dollars if I sleep with someone," Will told my imprint through clenched teeth.

"As long as she's hot." Will liked his technicalities—I didn't want him sleeping with just ANYONE. "And the offer expires Monday."

"Well, if you were willing to split sixty-forty—"

"You two are spending too much time together," Brian announced with a growl.

His sister just laughed and sat down between them. "Sleep with, right? What's the point of winning if you can't cheat to do it?"

"Okay," Will admitted, "You are spending too much time with me."

"That's not fair," I whined as Kara sat down beside me and let me wrap around her waist and try to ignore the too-cheerful voice my imprint was putting on (anything to save the backyard from further destruction). They ignored me.

"I think the two of us having a slumber party would be fun," she said. "They were fun when we were kids."

"You were too young to remember those."

"Says who?"

"I was too young to remember. And they were so fun your parents wouldn't let me around you for years."

"It was because you used to throw things at me," Brian reminded him. "And then your Dad put it on youtube."

"Sorry about that," Will said. "Though it didn't damage your brain too much."

"Also known as the opposite of what you really believe."

"He adores you, Brian," Francy said. "It's just buried under layers of hostility."

"It's kind of my thing," Will promised.

"If Levi really is giving you all that money just for a sleepover," Kara said suddenly, "We could—I'd be okay going just fifty-fifty." The four of us stared at her; my girlfriend turned bright red. "Back to school shopping's really expensive, okay?"

"See?" Will said, shaking off the surprise (he still didn't quite recognize Kara's voice, but he was learning). "Even she gets it. Why do you—? I know it's my fault you just don't get it but Brian was supposed to have taught you better by now."

He slumped down onto the table and buried his head in his arms once he finished whining. Francy was trying not to laugh while she patted him lightly on the back. Brian wasn't even trying to stop himself.

"I do so get money stuff," I protested. Will didn't look up, but the Uley twins did not look like they believed me. "I was just trying to motivate you."

"Think of it this way," Brian offered because Brian was a champ, "It's kind of sweet that Levi would sell himself into what would end up being eternal servitude just so you'd hang around a girl."

"He didn't have to bring money into it. He already ordered me to sleep with his imprint."

Okay, so Will was really pissed at me.

And now the Uleys were, too.

"Seriously?" Brian asked. Apparently, it was a really bad idea to annoy the guy who knew everything about me ever; even when he was lying people believed him. Kara looked disappointed with me, which was better than looking like I'd beheaded her dolls and lit the heads on fire, which is what Francy looked like she wanted to do to my head.

"It wasn't an order. I just suggested...you know, that you wouldn't be the worst person in the world that he could hook up with. That's all." When my imprint kept glaring, I added, "You don't get mad at Bert."

"Because he's _sweet _and all he wants is for William to talk to human beings who aren't related to him," Francy explained. "Also, Bertrand very solemnly promised me that William wouldn't be ready for sex for a long, long time so there was no pressure."

"I'm going to kill him," Will said without heat. Never Bert.

"Will's depressed, not broken," I promised her.

"You checked?" she asked.

"That's it," Will said. "Let's talk about Levi's sex life. Kara: concerns, complaints, critiques? Cautionary tales? Please, we're all dying to know."

I flipped him off over her head. Francy decided she wasn't THAT mad at me because I think she pinched Will. She said to Kara, "Ignore him. Please."

It wasn't enough to get Kara to stop blushing, but she did say, "The forest is dirty. I don't...there's dirt everywhere."

It made the three stooges laugh; all of them were in agreement. None of them had any appreciation for atmosphere. Judy would have been on my side—and I really wished I didn't know that.

"The rocks hurt."

"And the twigs."

"I feel like the animals are watching."

"Feces and carcasses underneath you."

"Ugh. The smell is disgusting."

"If you're all finished," I complained. They shut up. "I get it, thank you."

There were other things to do in the forest, though, so once they all stopped being mean we started planning for our picnic the next day. Well, Francy just conveyed what the plan was. Something about needing advanced noticed to get all the food we needed.

Brian did slap me upside the head right before I left with Kara—something about never trying to set up his sister ever again, thank you very much—but I figured if I had to get picked on, there weren't any other people on the planet I'd rather have doing it, so it was all good.


	32. Chapter 32

A/N: Sorry! I finished this story up and kinda of forgot I hadn't posted the ending. Remind me if there's something important you want wrapped up because we're almost done.

* * *

><p>My pack wasn't going anywhere at the beginning of September. But Dinah and Francine were leaving and they might not have been werewolves but they were pack (somehow) and that meant having them leave was going to suck. It's not like I wanted to hit her over the head and keep her in my cave or anything, just that it was always a little unsettling knowing she was so far away (I couldn't get to Seattle fast enough to protect her. From what? It didn't matter; she was just too far away). I was glad they were going to school. Hell, Bert had said, "She likes me better when I'm far away," and he probably wasn't wrong in his case, or in mine. But that didn't mean it wasn't going to bother us not having them around and that meant it was going to bother the others, too.<p>

So we obviously had to see them off properly.

In the morning, I went to wake my sister up. Dinah was already up and about, being a productive citizen or whatever, but Judy was still sound asleep. At home, so Mom would be happy (Mom had insisted the Uleys put locks on their windows; after Dinah left, Judy wasn't going to be allowed to do anything but go to school until Christmas if she was lucky).

"Come on, lazy butt," I said as I kicked the mattress. "We're going for a run."

"Yay. Something new and different," she grumbled from under the pillow. When I pulled the pillow off her (it was too early for sarcasm) I found Judy smiling at me. "Don't worry. I'll be excited when I wake up."

"You better," I threatened. My sister giggled and kicked me out of her room.

Dinah was going over her list of things to pack. "Explain to me how I got stuck making all the food."

"Most of the food," I corrected. Kara was doing desert. "Francy planned it all so you got to make it."

"And the giant wolves who are going to eat everything...?"

"Are incredibly handsome?"

"Why can't you make it?"

I laughed. "You're cute when you're silly."

"This is why I'm not going to miss you," my sister said, sticking out her tongue. "If you eat anything while you carry it over, you'll all be in trouble."

"Just leave it on the table." We were going for a picnic, deep in the forest. The girls didn't want to carry the food, so they got to make it all. "Be there at twelve?"

"Yeah, yeah."

I should have woken up Judy sooner; she spent twenty minutes in the bathroom before I got bored, threatened to break down the door, and forced her to come out. When she finally came out she looked exactly the same except a little more awake.

"You're going to spend most of the day as a wolf. Did you really have to take that long?"

"We're going to phase back to eat." Mostly. We were going to do a lot of hunting before we got to the food. We didn't want to waste money, right? "Just because you're a slob."

"Now you're in for it. I'm giving you twenty seconds and then I'm going to sit on you. Twen—"

And my sister was off.

She managed to get the Uleys backyard before I could catch her (she was getting a bit faster) so I magnanimously decided to let it go. _I'm such a good brother._

_I can hear you plotting_, Judy said. Wolves have a hard time sticking out there tongue like humans do, so Judy settled for snapping at my tail. _You'll have to catch me first._

I had barely turned around before a black wolf appeared beside her, greeting her with a nip. _You going to protect her or can I sit on her?_

_Do I want to know?_ Baxter asked my sister.

_Levi doesn't like it when I look pretty,_ she said. Brian joined us, shaking his head, and we took off, even as I protested.

_You always look pretty._

_She won't when I sit on her_, I said, because they were disgusting.

_She'll still look pretty,_ Baxter said. _Just...flatter._

_Now I feel like pancakes,_ Judy said. _Can we stop by the diner first?_

_We're going to eat deer. And other food we have to track down,_ I said._ Manly food._

_I could go for some pancakes, too_, Brian said. _Now that you mention it._

_Why are we talking about pancakes? _Bert asked as he and Will phased into our thoughts. Good. We hadn't even had to go into the Call's backyard. Now that everyone was present and accounted for, I started to push the pace.

Meanwhile, my sister was explaining, _Because breakfast is the most important meal of the day._

* * *

><p>A pack of wolves running through Washington would have attracted attention; a pack of wolves our size would have made the national news. You know, if we hadn't been too fast for anyone to catch.<p>

As it was, even though we kept up a comfortable pace (with the occasional race that I totally always won except for when my sister cheated) we were still going faster than most cars could go. We covered a lot of ground. It was good that way. Better for the animals. At least this way we weren't just picking on one.

So we couldn't hunt vampires. We could hunt things that were used to being hunted, animals that had muscle memory on how to get away from the big scary creatures. And if they were slower than we'd like, well, then, we could just hunt one of our own.

_I really don't see why I have to be the prey_, Will complained.

_That's what you get for not playing well with others,_ I reminded him. _Okay, team. Ready?_

_Reading his mind is cheating,_ Brian reminded the kids. Later on, we'd try it while he was human, though we were all a little nervous about how that would slow his reflexes too much (as much as training Baxter to fight with me was high on the list of things to do, I considered making him bait in that particular game; kid would put up a fight). For now, we just had to hunt Will down while he was a wolf and catch him (it turned out Will was also a lot faster than I'd thought; one of these days I was going to kill him).

We tried some other games, too. For all that he would never, ever like it, it didn't take Baxter long to get out of the habit of covering for my sister when we fought. He seemed to trust she could hold her own and only got bitchy about us attacking her when attacking her caught them both off guard and he was suddenly just forced to watch her get thrown around. But they could fight together without getting distracted for the most part, so that was good.

When the poor deer wandered into our training zone, it didn't really have a chance. _Who wants to start getting lunch ready?_ I asked.

_It's not very sporting,_ Judy said. _It's one on six._

_Isn't this bad for the environment? _Bert asked.

_We are part of the environment, _Brian said. _What we eat as humans is probably wrecking the land a lot faster than bringing down a few deer._

_Someone kill the damn deer, _I ordered. And since we were all getting hungry, the Uleys brothers got to it.

_Damn._ Judy barked._ My boyfriend's hot._

My sister was pretty fast, but I was still faster. She was a little flatter when she arrived for lunch.

* * *

><p>We were still hungry by the time we made it to the top of the cliffs. Fortunately, we had brought a bag full of clothes along with the food and set about putting them on. Mostly just jeans, but Judy brought a dress and Will insisted on a shirt (I probably should have packed a shirt for Baxter, so I didn't have to watch my sister pawing at him). We hadn't eaten any of the food in the baskets we'd picked up from my house before coming here. Not because we were scared of Dinah (not only because of that) but because we were still a little full.<p>

It was very windy and a heck of a climb if you were a human, so we weren't surprised to see the others were sitting down. It was a bit of a surprise to find Ginger asleep, but the second I opened my mouth to say so, Dinah spoke up.

"If you wake her, I will kill you. We are enjoying the silence."

"Ginger snaps whined the whole way up here. When she wasn't complaining, bitching, snarling, biting, drooling—"

"We beat him to the top," Tom said, interrupting his brother's story. Timmy complained, "She kept gloating."

"We're all pretty beat," Francy told us, even as she waved us towards the blankets they had set out. It was the one thing they had carried. "Feed us?"

So we did.

We started pulling out cartons, passing them around—Francy recommended I pull out the plates first, so I did that. There was a lot of food, but we let the others go first. We'd have a battle for the rest, afterwards.

"Hey, Ginger," Brian said, gently shaking her awake. "You hungry?"

"I hate you," Ginger said. She was predictable that way. But she sat up and, once Judy handed her a plate, she set about grabbing what she wanted. Our lunches were pretty self-explanatory; eat fast, grasshopper. "Lassie, pass the bread."

"No food fights," Baxter ordered. It stopped Tommy from throwing the food at her; she did end up pinched, but settled for stealing his carrots and munching on them obnoxiously.

"What's the point if there's no food fights?" I wondered to the world at large. Somehow, my pack thought this was their clue to throw food at me.

"You're cleaning that up," Dinah announced. We promised to be good.

It was then that Ginger finally woke up and looked around. "Hey, Brian, why didn't you invite E?"

"Excuse me?" You could forgive Brian for not realizing that Ginger noticed anyone around her that didn't have a dick. About the only girl I'd ever seen her talk to without snarling was Judy and that had taken my sister over a month (and might not have worked if the twins didn't adore Judy, or if Judy hadn't bribed Ginger with basketball tricks).

"She's a better cook," Ginger said, ignoring Dinah's death glare. She liked encouraging my sister's hatred. I think Ginger had taken to Bert, weirdly enough. "Why isn't she here?"

I had invited Ester—or told Brian to do it, which was the same thing. When I was making up the guest list, I was only going to invite the pack, really, only Kara pointed out that technically included Ginger. I'd tried to get around that (age limit, or something) but since it was only a picnic, and Kara said it would mean a lot to Brian, I'd invited the terror along. And then I'd invited Art, so she'd have someone to play with. Ginger had thrown a fit, told me I was an idiot and invited the twins (apparently Art was giving guitar lessons, today; maybe this was me not paying attention to money again; maybe Ginger was a crazy bitch). Then, since it was apparently a free for all, I told the others they could bring who they wanted.

Everyone else had just laughed at me. That hadn't surprised me. Francy and Dinah were doing this to hang with us; the pack didn't really like outsiders.

"This wasn't a girlfriend thing," Brian explained.

"He brought his girlfriend, he brought his girlfriend, he's got really shitty taste but she's here anyways, they still think girls have cooties, he's—" Even Ginger Walker wasn't crazy enough to go after Will to his face. "She's here in spirit?"

Okay, so she was just nuts.

"Of course she is," Bert said so smoothly that we didn't jump, even though we'd all kind of gone into battle mode. Will decided if Bert was okay with it, he was okay with it. He relaxed. Fortunately, the possibility of watching our cousin kill someone had distracted Dinah from whatever complaint she was going to make at being stuck labeled Bert's bad decision.

I don't think even Marlena Call would have gotten along with Ginger and, well, she had managed to date Will.

Brian offered, "They've all been together for a lot longer than Ester and I have."

Kara gave me a tiny smile and I would have bet—okay, so I wouldn't have bet any money. I could be taught—she was thinking about what happened at the end of the last summer and how I had finally gotten my act together about her. It took me awhile, but I had excellent taste when I finally figured shit out.

"That's such bullshit," Ginger decided. Of course she did. The thing was I wasn't sure she was totally wrong. "They aren't even together and Dinah's here."

My sister's eye twitched, but thankfully she remembered she couldn't kill little children. Not today, anyway.

"He's taking his relationship with Ester slow," Timmy explained. "Which we know through diligent observation and lots and lots of spying."

"Also," Tommy added, "Levi's loud."

Whoops.

"Brian." Ginger was full on whining. "You're such an idiot. She's not with you for your amazing personality. She's with you for the abs! Which are on display today, so why wouldn't you invite her?"

"Since no one hear can keep their mouth shut," Brian said, glaring at us all (Bert and Baxter glared right back, though the rest of us were slightly uncomfortable), "I can't bring her along. I don't want her running away from here screaming about how we're all crazy, thinking we turn into wolves."

"We wouldn't be that obvious about it," I muttered. Judy threw her bread at me—the two of us exchanged guilty looks and went back to our food.

Ginger considered. "The six of you look like you stumbled off a porn set. All half-naked and wind swept."

My mind went places it probably shouldn't have, but I could keep my mouth shut occasionally. It helped Kara was giggling, quietly, and she was too adorable just then so I had to kiss her neck, which kept my mouth busy.

"What would my porn name be?" Judy wondered. Baxter growled at her, but Bert was quick to come up with a few suggestions and if the twins were still scared of girls, they weren't scared of Dinah enough to keep their mouths shut either. Judy liked the stuff based on foods.

"You have to call me Lotta Sweetness sometimes," my sister told Baxter, who didn't quite manage to keep a straight face.

Because I knew I was going to say something stupid—he didn't want to eat her already?—I decided to announce, "No more porn names. And any time you want, you can tell Ester anything you want about us."

Will said she could keep her mouth shut. And even if she did tell…you could bet a whole lot of money that no one would take the native girl seriously. Dinah wasn't wrong that it was fucked up, but, you know, I was going to take advantage of it.

"I think Ester would think it was cool," Judy said. Bert and Baxter nodded along with her; they'd follow her anywhere.

"No," Brian said. "It's not cool. It's dangerous and stupid. I'd be telling her I've been lying to her."

"Just delaying the truth," Ginger said easily. "And it's so cool she wouldn't care."

"I'd be telling her that I kill things. That I—I almost _killed_ someone. You think she'd think that was cool?"

"He didn't almost die," Baxter said.

"And you owed me that," Will offered.

For some reason, this annoyed Brian more. "Is that why you're always dressed nowadays?"

It took a hell of a lot to scar one of us. That's not to say that Will had come out of it without any cool looking scars to show for it. I'm sure my uncle was a great nurse, but it had taken him a while to find all the pieces of bone. The delay meant some of the skin didn't come together quite right. But you could barely see anything, just four or five randomly placed thick lines, one or two inches long on Will's side.

Dinah had scars people would notice. She wore a one piece to the beach nowadays because otherwise people would stare. And if Brian made Judy think about _that_, I was going to kill him.

"I'm vainer than your sister," Will said.

"You're just jealous I'm finally prettier than you," Francy said. I think she was trying to distract her brother, but it didn't work.

"Until one of us gets our claws in you," Brian said to his sister. I decided then and there that the twins probably weren't ever going to phase because those two little boys looked livid just about then. Judy's knuckles were white, she was clinging so hard to Baxter's forearm, but I wasn't sure she would be able to stop him.

Brian was angrier than all of them put together—he didn't do confrontation. Brian was the kind of teacher that would explain it too you thirteen hundred different ways just so you could come up with the answer yourself. The problem in this case was that he had the wrong answer—we weren't monsters. We just fucked up occasionally (and had claws).

"Take a walk," I ordered. When Brian snapped out of it to look over at me, I added: "Now."

Brian nodded quickly, stood up and fled to the forest. The rest of us just gazed at one another.

My sister started pulling her boyfriend to his feet, keeping between us and him.

"We're going cliff jumping," she called back to the rest of us. "You first."

Judy pushed Baxter right over the cliff. It was probably a safety hazard, but if he hit his head on the rocks, he'd heal fast. The second Baxter went over the edge, Ginger was saying, "You promised you'd show us how it's done."

Judy glanced over at me; I didn't have to look to know that Dinah and Francy were glaring at me. "When you're older," I promised Ginger. "And not quite such a pain in the ass."

"Five dollars in the swear jar," Tommy told me. Timmy ignored me and turned to his sister: "We'll be really, really, really good and we can swim really, really, really well, and we'll listen super, super, super good and be really, really, really safe. Okay? Right."

"Wrong," his sister said.

"What if I took them to a smaller cliff?" Judy asked.

"They aren't indestructible," Dinah said. And since people listened to my sister, Judy said, "Sorry guys. Maybe next time." Then she jumped after her boyfriend.

"That sucks," Ginger whined. Then: "You guys are just going to leave Brian sulking in the trees?"

"We should let her go cliff jumping," I muttered to Kara. My girlfriend just patted me on the head. Since Baxter was busy hating his father and his life and maybe his older brother, I figured I'd either go myself or let Bert handle it.

"You can't leave him alone," Ginger snapped. She did that a lot. Overdramatic brat. "He's just going to get all fucking mopey and pathetic if you do."

And, probably to her own surprise as much as anyone's, Dinah agreed with her. "I'm done eating. I'll go."

"Di—"

"I already have scars. Besides," she said, "I have experience with just how far I can push angry werewolves."

"You suck at it," Francy said, incredulous.

Dinah didn't argue that point. "I know Brian. So I'm going."

She glared at us all, daring us to contradict her. It got to Bert enough that he said, "You shouldn't go alone. At least bring one of us along in case he needs to fight."

"Judy'll kill me if someone doesn't come with you," I said.

"Try it."

My sister stormed off and the rest of us sat there. Bert was glaring at me—"Oh, shut up, kid. She knows where I sleep. And she knows how to handle Brian just the way he likes, in case you've forgotten."

"Levi," Francy said. Kara settled for pinching me. Right.

"That's the best you guys can do?" Ginger complained.

I think Tommy understood if I had to listen to her for five more seconds I was going to rip her fucking head off, because he pulled her to her feet (Timmy got up automatically when his brother did; the twins did shit like that all the time). "We're going to explore," he said and turned the floor over to his brother.

"After being ejected from their airplane, three explorers are left stranded deep inside the forest—though not so deep and hidden that we'll be anyplace we don't know and nowhere near the cliffs or any place dangerous and don't talk to strangers—" Timmy said with one breath for his sister, "Now they have to battle the elements and not each other to see if they ca return home before the sunset."

"Fucking seriously?" Ginger said.

"Scared?"

The punch was a good one—and it hurt the way she wanted it to, I think, because Tommy was pretty good about not flinching when his brother hit him—but I was actually more impressed with the way she dodged the fist that came at her (even while she laughed). Girl was fast.

"Last one to the path is the pack mule," Timmy announced, which ended the fight faster than I could of as all three of them took off at a run.

"Stay away from Brian!" Francy called after them and that was that.

"They seem to be getting along better now," Kara offered Francy. "I see them running together all the time."

Francy made some sort of noise, that might have been an agreement (the only thing stopping my imprint from ripping out Ginger's eyes was the fact she wasn't interested in her brothers). "Are you glad school's starting up again?"

Kara sighed. "Not really."

"It's your last year; make sure you enjoy it."

"I hear showing up is a good idea," Will said. They almost hadn't let him graduate with that many absences—and that was after the school had seventeen werewolves pass through. But it wasn't like he'd missed much.

"But school's so boring," I complained. Though it was better than the alternative. The unfortunate side effect of me being a giant and my cousin being a midget was that we didn't look the same—I'd had to pass the GED stuff myself (well, okay, I had both Brian and Will in my head teaching me shit, but I was the one stuck writing everything down).

"I'm kind of sad it's my last year," Kara admitted. I gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Not that I'm not glad, too, but—I don't know. Bert?"

"There's no way I'm graduating this year," Bert said with a shrug. "Next year'll be my last year."

"You could just do what I did." I wasn't going to make the kid go to school; it was dangerous; good for learning control, but dangerous.

"I don't mind taking the extra year."

"The two of you will be graduating at the same time, then," Kara said to Francy and Bert.

"Don't remind Dinah. Please."

"Oh." Kara winced in sympathy; the rest of us remembered Dinah might very well be bleeding to death on the forest floor. Well, no, Brian would be howling by now.

"Do you know what you're going to do afterwards?" Francy asked, when it got really awkward with the blushing Bert was doing.

The kid shrugged, mentioned, "Take over Dad's store," didn't look at Will—as if Will had ever wanted Marley to claim her half. He hated that shit. Bert could have it; hell, I couldn't remember the last time I'd been in there (summer before my last year of high school, almost two years now; I'd go in because she had the AC on and always seemed to be bent over the counter when I walked in). "You?"

And Kara blushed worse than Bert had. "I'm not sure yet."

"You'll have the job at the restaurant as long as you want," Will reminded her.

"Though it might be nice to maybe take a year and do some traveling or something," Francy said, "Before you commit to anything. You could stay with Dinah and me for a bit, explore the city, maybe find some other options."

"Community college isn't that expensive," Will said.

"And they do offer a lot of help. You just have to spend hours filling out forms. But I could tell you where to look," Francy offered.

"I filled out a ton for Baxter. So we can help."

"You two sound like guidance counselors " I said. Will flipped me off; Francy ignored me, started babbling about the joys of moving away from home. It was only when I looked at Bert, who was looking at me like I was a dumbass, that I started to suspect. Francy might be looking out for her friend. Will was looking out for—

Okay, so I loved Kara. Totally. But that didn't mean I wanted to—I mean, I kind of did, but I didn't—and I was going to kill them.

"She can figure it out without your help," I snapped. Maybe a little louder than I intended to. Still. Kara was a smart girl. And we'd cross that bridge when we got to it.

"Just remember there are tons of options for you out there," Francy said.

"And please wait until at least one of you has a job before you get married."

I was going to kill him. I was going to rip him limb from limb and scatter the pieces across the continent—at least the pieces of him I didn't piss on. Will was dead.

"Are you ever planning to go back to school?" Kara asked Will, which stopped me from screaming at him, which was good. She was also playing with my hands, which was nice. We had time; Kara wasn't in any rush (she was too patient with me, I was afraid).

"You sound like my mother," Will said, but without bite. "I might consider it in a few decades. Benefit of the nominal immortality."

"Hopefully, it protects against boredom," Francy said.

And since I couldn't let the slight against my town pass by—even if she was saying it to tease Will—I asked, "What are you going to do around here when you finish?"

My imprint was suddenly very interested in her hands. "It'll depend on whether I can get into law school or not."

"Wait, what? Law school?"

Not that there weren't lawyers somewhere within a thousand miles but it wasn't exactly like there were people lining up for that shit. She couldn't just—

"If I get in," she said. Will rolled his eyes—at my surprise or at her humility, I wasn't sure. He'd known; nice of the guy to warn me she didn't want to stay around here (though I suppose I should have figured that out myself).

And maybe I wasn't good at figuring people out, my imprint least of all, but I could tell that she wanted to get in, that she was afraid of getting in, but that it was what she was hoping for. And I could imagine her, years from now, never coming back and it sucked and it hurt—and all I said was, "Don't you have to study for that shit?"

"What do you think I was doing all summer?" she asked me.

I shrugged. "Dating Kyle."

"Kyle didn't take up that much time."

"You're missing out."

"Levi," Kara mumbled.

"What? She is."

"You're not supposed to say it."

Whatever. There were a lot of things I wasn't supposed to stay. Yelling at her for just up and leaving and not wanting to come back was probably on that list. I decided passive-aggressive was okay, though.

"Isn't law school expensive?"

"We'll figure it out," Will snapped. At first I thought it was my trolling, then I realized that I'd stumbled across an old argument because he and Francy started hissing at each other about interests rates and loans and the cost of sending Benjamin to school and I decided to leave them to it. Bert and Kara were talking about their classmates and if the kids were younger than me, I still knew who they were talking about.

The gossip was a lot less fun when Brian came back without my sister.

"Where's Dinah?" I asked.

"She's fine." Brian couldn't have lied about it, so I relaxed just a fraction. "She could use some company on the walk back." It took all of us a minute to realize he was talking to Bert. The kid slowly raised his eyebrow. Brian just said, "Don't say I never did anything for you."

"Like setting him on your vulnerable ex?"

Brian growled at Will. "Dinah should listen to her own good advice."

Eventually, my imprint offered, "She always did hate hypocrites."

"You're going to leave her alone in the forest?" I wasn't sure which of them I was talking to. "Ginger's out there."

"I can't help her anymore," Brian said.

"We can't catch her and I don't think she'd want the rest of the wolves," Kara said quietly. I think my imprint smiled at her. Bert only scowled.

"She could use a friend right now," Brian said.

Finally, the boy got to his feet and lumbered off into the forest. I wanted to ask Brian what he and Dinah had talked about—had she managed to get him over his fear of actually doing shit?—but he didn't look like he'd be open to that. As it was, he dropped down beside his sister and put his head in her lap.

"You should listen to her," Francy said.

"You don't even know what she said."

Francy just smiled and ran her hands through his hair. "Listen to her. If only because Ginger would make you a terrible wife."

"She's a good kid. Inside. When she's quiet."

"Just not for you, then."

And since we could all agree she'd eat Brian for breakfast be hungry enough for the rest of La Push before ten, we turned to more exciting topics.


	33. Chapter 33

A/N: Second last chapter, but I have a bunch of epilogues I'm going to stick up afterwards. To the anonymous reviewer who asked about Dinah...that'll be explicit in one of the epilogues, though check the reviews if you need a firm answer right away.

* * *

><p><em>There's no cars on the streets; it's a wide lane anyway. I was going to open the door for her, but since the road is clear and she's holding my hand, I pull her to me first. Ester's not the tallest girl, but she's a helpful sort of person. When she stands on her toes and wraps her arms around my neck, it's easy enough to duck and kiss her. <em>_Her mouth is warm and inviting; she leans back and that's an invitation too. "You don't have to keep asking," she told me one day and it's getting easier to remember. Despite the cool night air, her skin is still warm where her t-shirt rides up under my hands._

"_Have I mentioned you look incredible tonight?" I say against her ear. She hums and her fingers run through my hair. _

_Her smile is dangerous, more tempting than I know how to handle. Ester's always had perfect, pouty lips, but when she smiles, it's breathtaking. I lean over to kiss her—just one more time—and one of her legs hooks around the back of mine. It's nice not being the only wanting more. Her body soft against mine, reminding me of things I'd told myself I'd forgotten. The smooth skin of her throat calls; and if I leave marks, well, she is mine. _

"_If you're not careful, Brian, I'm going to end up begging you to take me on top of this car. And public indecency is just not very civic-minded of you."_

_It takes a long moment before I understand her words. When I do…it kind of hurts when I swallow._

"_So I know I said I wanted to take things slowly..." She's licking her lips, her tongue gliding smoothly over her lips, leaving them moist. I think I could watch that forever. "But I really don't want to take you home just yet."_

"_...are you saying what I think you're saying?"_

"_I want you. If—I mean, only if you—"_

"_Stop talking," she pleads. "You talk too much when you should just be kissing me."_

"_That's what I'm supposed to be doing?"_

"_Mmmm..." Her lips are on mine; she isn't demanding, even now, but she gently presses forward and it's so easy to follow her. "I want you, too."_

"_Good." It's more of a growl than a word, but I think she understands._

_"You really want to do this?"_

"_I really want you."  
><em>

_Her lips are eager when they find mine. The scent of her, watermelon shampoo and cheap deodorant, is familiar enough, but tonight even that seems to hold a hint of something better. _

"_Get in the car." It comes out louder than I intended, but she just smiles slowly and steps back. Her eyes are dark—she watches me even as she gets in the car, sinking into the seat, her expression a warning and a promise._

_The sound of the car door slamming makes me jump. I have to remember my own strength. I take a deep breath; the night air is cool and it helps calm me down. There's still part of me that's deathly afraid this is a mistake (it's easy to think like that when she's not in my arms), that I'm not ready for this—worse, that I'm just making everything harder for both of us. But who says everything is going to collapse? Maybe it will. Most likely it will. But I'm so tired of being afraid. _

_When I get into the car and turn the key, I'm calm. "I have a place we can go. We just have to stop off at the drug store first." I hadn't wanted to be presumptuous, though now I kind of wish I had been._

"_You've only ever been with Dinah so—I'm on the pill. We don't have to bother, if you don't want."_

_I really don't mean to just keep going. After all, just because we can't get sick doesn't mean she knows that. My foot is heavier on the gas than it should be._

_Ester just takes my hand, our fingers interlocking. She has small hands; usually, she tells me she's normal-sized, I just have big hands, but tonight she's just quiet. When I glance over she smiles—I kiss the back of her hand and she leans over and brushes my hair back with her other hand. She likes touching me like this, just little brushes of skin on skin, but constantly. It's nice. _

"_Can I ask why you changed your mind?" _

_She brings our hands to rest in her lap, well, more on her thigh, and I say, "I just got around to looking at you properly." _

_It makes her laugh. There's a reason she prefers to stay composed. When she laughs, it's sweet—her laughter is a much lighter sound than you would expect. It makes her blush, too. _

"_Acceptable answer, I guess."_

_A we drive out of town and past the forest; the darkness brings a stillness with it. I don't want to do this without telling her..._

"_There are things you should know about me. Things I can't tell you," I tell the steering wheel. I'm afraid to look—I have to drive and I use that as an excuse. I wish I was brave enough to look at her. "I wanted to wait until I could and then I realized we might very well be waiting forever." And Dinah was right—she deserves more than that. I can't do this for me, but I can do this for her. She deserves more and I have to explain. "I don't want to keep secrets from you, I just..."_

_"I don't need to know every secret you've ever had for us to sleep together." She's practical; I think I'm always going to need that._

_"Even if there are some things about me that would probably make you run away screaming?"_

_While she does move my hand off her thigh, she doesn't let go of it. Instead, her voice low, she says, "I'm going to tell you a story with a very important lesson. Okay?"_

_I nod and she begins._

"_A long time ago there was a boy who was a lot cuter than he had any right to be, so cute that I didn't even care that people said things about him. Things that weren't very nice. Things about how he wasn't very nice. I liked him and he liked me and for a while it didn't matter what people said. I was just a kid; what did I really need from a relationship, anyway, except someone to hold my hand and kiss me? _

"_But after a while all the things people said got to me. So I asked him."_

_It was a mistake. That much I could already guess._

"_It wasn't what I expected him to tell me. It wasn't anything about the people he was with when he wasn't with me. I asked him for his secrets and so he told me. I was thirteen; I didn't want to know that your parents could do that to you. I didn't want to know...I didn't want to know any of it." Ester squeezed my hand. "I don't even remember what I said to him when he told me. I just remember I went home and cried."_

"_I'm sorry," I told her. Sorry for both of them, though Will would probably kill me for thinking it._

"_You don't need to apologize to me. I should...I don't come off very well in this story, I think. Because after I finished feeling sorry for myself I googled some sort of kid's help thing and gave him a website when I told him I couldn't—I just couldn't. He took it well." _

_The sarcasm had a bitter edge. Whatever he'd said had hurt her, still hurt her—hurt her worse because she still felt like he'd had the right to say it._

"_You were just a kid," I reminded her. "You did the best you could. It wasn't on you to help him."_

_Just my father, really. But if I couldn't be mad at Dad for what he'd failed to do for my brothers, I couldn't get mad at him about this._

"_I should have...I don't know. I still don't know what I should have done, just that it should have been something." Ester shook her head. "Do you want to hear the moral of the story, Brian?"_

"_Very much."_

"_The moral of the story is: I learned that sometimes, if someone doesn't tell you something, it's for a very good reason. Before I know what it is, there's no way I can judge if I can handle it. You have to do that._

"_However, there is another moral. One that took me a while to get. And that is: I'm not thirteen anymore. There is a lot more I can handle." She presses a kiss to the back of my hand. "Maybe I can't handle everything, not right away. You know what you're talking about and I don't. But if you don't mind waiting until I am ready...whatever you want to give me in the meantime, I'm happy with. Okay?"_

"_Sounds good." Maybe it's only because I want this, us, to work so badly. _

_We turn down a dark drive. The trees are dense, though I've come this way during the day so I know where I'm going. Seth won't care; hopefully, Nessie won't care either (Baxter swore they wouldn't and Baxter's pretty chummy with them). Besides, Seth is pack. Levi's, not Jacob's, now—and that means he'll keep our secrets._

_Ester lets me help her out of the car, her hand cool against mine._

"_My father's an alcoholic."_

_The words hang in the air between us. I wish it was colder; it would explain why I was shivering. Ester doesn't let go of my hand._

"_Just like his dad and maybe his dad. I'm not sure. We don't really talk about my great-grandfather much. Or my grandfather. My family doesn't like talking about anything, much. But dad's an alcoholic. Yeah. It's a long story, a really awful story. I don't know how long it'll take me to tell it. And it just gets worse from there, really. Or better, I guess, but weirder. So if you want to just leave now I wouldn't blame you. I don't think I could stand telling you everything all at once, but—eventually. It's going to get heavy like that."_

_It's exhausting being frightened all the time (Dinah says it's exhausting watching me being frightened all the time, but I maintain I have it worse). I look up. It's almost pitch black out here. I should have waited until we were inside, so I could see her face. My eyes are good in the dark, good for hunting, but I can't make out her expression._

"_I'm sorry." Her hands cup my face. "I'm sorry I don't know what else to say, too. But I'll listen to whatever you want to tell me, Brian, if you want. I want to listen to you. Just don't expect me to have any idea what the right thing to say is."_

"_You mean you're not perfect, either?"_

"_Spoilers."_

_Ester says I worry too much, that I need to stop thinking I can predict the end of our relationship. "You're going to disappoint my expectations," she said to me once, at the beginning, "I hate to spoil the end of our story, Brian, but I'm going to disappoint yours, too. But I won't let that scare me away if you don't." The ending becomes a little less scary if you think of it like that—together, even if things aren't quite as perfect as you thought they would be._

_Things with Dinah stopped being perfect—and I think that's where all our problems started._

_Ester draws my attention back to her with the press of her lips. It makes me ask, "Can I start telling you my secrets tomorrow?"_

"_You're right. I should check to make sure listening to you is even worth it."_

"_It will be," I promise and now she's the one shivering. She lets me run my hands along her back; then she's pulling my head down, kissing me firmly, telling me silently to hurry up. _

_Picking her up is easy (I wouldn't want her falling over in the dark). Ester buries her face against my neck, placing light kisses as we head inside. The cottage is basically one giant bedroom (vampires, I guess, aren't interested in much besides having sex and eating people) which makes it easy enough to navigate._

_And once she's on the bed underneath me...it may have been a while, but I remember too often to have forgotten._

"_Warning," she says as my hands tug at her shirt. "Not all women are Amazonian goddesses."_

"_Spoilers?"_

"_I'm serious, Brian." Ester even bites her lip, which is not helping me focus. Her hair's down around her shoulders; I've never seen anything so thick and shiny and dark. "I would just keep that in mind, if I were you."_

"_I like how soft you are," I tell her, letting my hands drift under her shirt. If she doesn't want to take it off, I can work around that._

"_I like how sweet you are, but that doesn't mean...oh. Mmmmm..."_

"_What were you saying?" _

"_Shut up," she says, pushing me off her—just enough so she can pull her shirt off. "No more talking."_

_That I can do. _

I manage to duck out of range right before Brian can pounce.

_Sorry, sorry,_ I mutter, which might have worked if, you know, I sounded sorry in the slightest and he couldn't read my mind._ It's not like I wanted to spy on you._

_You just have no concept of privacy,_ Brian said. He would have sighed, but wolves sounded stupid when they did that. _You find what you were looking for?_

_I figured out why she was smiling like an idiot this morning._ It wasn't hard to call up the image of Ester—or her VERY satisfied smile. Brian decided it wasn't worth getting mad at me for and we headed back through the forest.

We were werewolves. They were all slowly getting used to the idea that privacy was for other people.

* * *

><p>Brian was easy. Brian was always easy, though I tried not to tell him that because I didn't want to hurt his feelings. It was easy enough to find out what Brian was thinking because he wanted to tell me. He was almost as easy as Judy, who overshared whether I wanted her to or not. Baxter was pretty easy, too, unless it was about Judy. There were good reasons Baxter was pretty close to being my favourite, now. Will was…well, he had years of practice at only telling me what he thought I could handle (which was basically nothing), so if I wanted something from him I had to wait until one of us was particularly miserable. But sometimes he would share. It was Bert who never, ever, ever told me shit.<p>

To be fair, I was much less worried about the kid doing something stupid at any moment in time, so I pushed him less, too. But when I wanted to know…he wouldn't tell me.

Which wouldn't have bothered me, except Brian's fear of Dinah was a thousand times greater than his fear of me ("it's called loyalty, idiot," Baxter said) and he wouldn't tell me what he and my sister talked about (and, more importantly, if she was okay). I figured I could just go to Bert, but he only raised his eyebrows and went back to his video game like I hadn't spoken.

Brian was easy and Bert was impossible. So obviously I had to get Bert to tell me.

(Possibly this decision was motivated by the fact I thought my sister far less likely to make out with Bert than Brian).

I tried guilt: "You tried to set up my imprint with someone else."

"Not really." Then he grumbled: "Besides, it's not like it worked."

"Darn." Apparently smug wasn't going to help my case. I tried bribery. "You show me what she said and I won't make you go on patrols."

"I like patrols."

"I'll give you more of them."

"I don't like them that much."

I tried begging. "She's my sister. I'm worried about her. I just want to make sure she's okay."

"Talk to Francy."

"Or not." Bert snorted. "I want to see for myself."

"You don't trust your imprint?"

I was going to punch the kid. I settled for threatening him. "Next time we patrol, I'll just order you to show me."

The kid frowned. "That's not very nice."

"I'm not very nice."

"You're pretty nice," Bert said. Stupid kid. I ended up laughing, especially when he shrugged and said, "Most of the time."

I still wasn't going to tell him that I was worried about him, that I felt like I should double check on him too and Dinah was my ticket in. It was hard to keep things from your imprint. Not the way Will hadn't told Marley, well, all the stuff he hadn't told Marley that she never needed to know about, but the truth of stuff. The truth of you. That you had to give them.

Or maybe I was just hoping seeing him around Dinah would mean seeing him pull himself together because that's what she needed. Whatever. He wasn't going to let me see his thoughts normally, but he might if it was about my sister.

(After last time, my brain couldn't handle seeing him talk to my _other _sister. I still had nightmares).

"I'll give you a cookie."

"I want more stories about my sister." The stupid kid even managed to hold my eye. "Not just the when you were kids stuff, either. Will edits. You won't."

I couldn't if I wanted to. If Brian was easy, I was the beginning tutorial; everyone passed by me without trying. Thinking about it wasn't quite so awful as it used to be, but that didn't mean it I was eager to show him everything.

"My thoughts about her…you really don't want to hear my thoughts about her."

"You survived Baxter. We're pack but we can still tell our thoughts apart. Just because you wanted to sleep with her…"

"In a variety of positions and places."

"Yeah, but in between that…" Bert shrugged. "I'll show you your sister if you show me mine. For the rest of the year. Whenever I ask."

"One memory for an unlimited number? I'm kind of getting a shitty deal, there."

"You can make more memories with your sister. I can't."

"Are you trying to play the dead sister card?"

"Only if it's working."

"Fine."

So we went outside to phase.

_Her scent is easy enough to track. I have a pretty good nose; I think about her scent too much as it is. When I'm closer it's the noise that makes her easy to find. Dinah doesn't walk through the forest so much as trample it beneath her. Following her silently is probably the better option. She won't get mad if she doesn't know I'm there. But I'm staring at her ass. I think that kind of puts me in stalker territory and I like to avoid that when I can._

"_Brian told me to come after you."_

_Dinah doesn't jump, but she does pause. She doesn't turn around. She just waits for me to catch up with her. She's scowling when I reach her. "Didn't we all grow up in this forest?"_

"_Our parents taught us to go in pairs."_

_It's the truth. I'm right. Dinah's fair about that kind of stuff. She nods and takes off. When I don't follow immediately, she calls, "Are you waiting for an invitation?"_

_I can't help it if I grin. She rolls her eyes at me, but then she smiles. She stays to the right, too, so there's room on the path for me. I think everything between us would be okay if Dinah never smiled. We kind of get along now. We sort of have things in common outside of the wolf stuff. I really do see her like a gruff older sister who's a little too busy to hang around me most of the time (except she's nothing like my sister, so maybe like a cool older friend?). Then she smiles and it really is like gravity, turning my thoughts into a poorly written young adult romance novel. I know she'd hate it but that hasn't managed to get me to stop thinking it, yet._

_The other imprints I could handle. Francy's only pretty in a made up way and Ginger wears so much ugly crap on her face that you mostly can't tell she's really pretty underneath and the imprints are, well, old. But Dinah has beautiful, straight features and high cheek bones and full lips, not to mention dark eyes that always make it seem like she's thinking about things I know she's never, ever going to tell me about, so I don't know how I'm supposed to just ignore it. I know she'd hate that, too, because she doesn't want to just be pretty. _

_It's not just that she's pretty. It's all the other stuff, the sureness and the caring and the fierceness and the kindness and the grace, but all that stuff I can pretend is just why I like her as a friend. But the fact that she's pretty—the fact that she's beautiful—and I can't stop noticing it and thinking about it and wanting it kind of ruins the whole friend thing._

_Will says guys and girls can be friends as long as they don't want to sleep with each other. Francy says they can be friends as long as he doesn't want to sleep with her. Both of them would agree that I'm ruining everything by not being able to forget how pretty she is all the time. _

"_So, not that I need to talk about Brian, but since you are stalking me…"_

"_I'd like to hear it."_

_She grins; I'm definitely ruining the friend thing. "Brian and I never would have got together if it had been up to him. Relationships being scary and messy and all that" –not that I would know—"and Brian, well, with his mom and everything at the time, he kind of had a lot to worry about. He didn't need a girlfriend on top of it. And there was other stuff, with me, that is none of your business, but the point is that there were probably a lot of good reasons for the two of us not to go out when we did."_

"_Oh."_

"_Oh?" She's making fun of me; it should be scary, not as nice as it is._

"_Just not what I was expecting you to say."_

"_What were you expecting?"_

"_The two of you wanted to be together so everybody else should shut up?"_

_She laughs. "You got it in one, tiger. He wanted to be with me. Even though he was a mess and I was really a mess and we had no idea what we were doing. He wanted to be with me. I realized I wanted to be with him. More than I had ever wanted anything. So I didn't feel too bad when I gave him a little push." She glances over at me and if her smiling is bad, her smirking is worse. "Shoved my tongue down his throat. Same difference."_

_I'm blushing and she knows it. It's why she stops smiling. She picks up the pace so she's a little ahead of me. No one's ever going to be able to say she isn't clear with exactly what she wants. Sometimes I wish she wouldn't be. It might have been nice to pretend. But mostly I'm glad._

_Since I have nothing to say, I don't say anything. She continues._

"_Back then I kind of needed Francy's help to figure some of that stuff out. Now…now I know exactly how Brian is when he wants someone and thinks he shouldn't risk what he has for what he wants. It really sucks watching him feel that way about someone else."_

"_I'm sorry."_

"_Not your fault. It's not even his."_

"_We could blame Ester."_

_Wrong answer. She stops in the middle of the path and glares at me to make sure I understand how wrong that answer is._

"_What exactly are we blaming her for? For not being me? For making him happy?"_

_I can't help smiling at her. She's more than beautiful like this._

"_Nothing," I say. "We're not blaming Ester for anything."_

"_Good." It's not really; she wants to, I think, because that would make everything easier. But Dinah doesn't do things the easy way if she can help it (what's the fun in the easy way?). "Anyway…what was I saying?"_

"_He wants more from her. He won't do it without a push. I'm thinking you gave him that push."_

"_It was more like a lecture. He deserves to be happy. I think I finally got him to understand that. He deserves it." She brushes her bangs off her face; her hair still isn't quite long enough to pull back. "He deserves to be happy and she deserves to be happy. She wants them to be together so maybe he should get over himself and treat her like an adult who can make up her own damn mind. What?"_

"_What?"_

"_What's with the smile?"_

_I can't help that. She's too—too much. How can you not react to her?_

"_I hope he listens to you," is all I can think to say. I can't tell her she's perfect; she doesn't want to hear it and it's not true in any case. I can feel the words on my tongue, though, before I swallow them down._

"_You're not an adult."_

"_What?"_

_Dinah glances at the trees and then back at me. It throws her that she has to glance up at me, however slight, because she's moving around on the trail until we're eye to eye._

"_You're not an adult. Not yet."_

_And ten minutes ago I would have said she'd hate the way I feel lighter hearing her say that, but ten minutes ago I never would have thought she'd say it so I'm not sure what her reaction would be anymore. Yet, she said. It's more than she's ever said before. I don't like how happy it makes me; I'll take her friendship if that's all she wants to give. But hope is also one of those things that I can't seem to help around her._

_She's really going to regret tutoring me in a second._

"_How are we defining adult here?"_

"_I don't know." She doesn't leave. Dinah doesn't know how to run away from her problems and that more than anything is the problem. "I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with you."_

"_Whatever you want."_

_That was a mistake. Dinah does not approve of that answer._

"_You have no idea what you're saying." _

_I want to tell her I do or maybe she doesn't understand it any more than I do. It still hurts to hear her tell me over and over that I'm just a kid who can't understand. It really hurts because I always listen to her._

"_I know everything with you is always going to be what you want. That's kind of the definition of imprinting."_

"_I want you to go away so I never have to think about any of this." When I turn, she grabs my wrist before I can walk away. "Don't—don't look like that. Bert, please, don't." Her voice gets softer, her words faster. " I didn't mean—I want you to understand. Imprinting threatens my family. It takes people's choices. It makes them—I _can't_ be okay with that. Even before I would have—and now, now it would literally make me sick. And you're just a kid. And yet there you are, having no choice but to care about me. I can't—what kind of person would I be to take advantage of that?"_

_I've seen Judy do this before, which is the only reason I don't flinch and turn away. Judy does it all the time; Marley used to do it occasionally, which is the only reason it doesn't terrify me entirely. Sometimes there's no pretence, no hiding, no walls—sometimes it's just truth. There are only feelings, naked of every disguise and of every protection. Sometimes people show you what they are in the dark while their standing in the sun. It always leaves me feeling like a coward._

_Dinah doesn't explain why she's terrified; I don't need an explanation. It's enough that she can present her fear in front of me because she trusts I won't make it worse._

"_Caring about you is a choice." She needs to hear me say that. "You don't have to love gravity. It's just there. I need you in my life. I'm sorry that neither one of us has choice about that. But everything after that is a choice. Caring about you is my choice. And wanting you is just common sense."_

_She snorts; she's unhappy, afterwards, that I made her laugh in the middle of all this, but she can't take it back. I don't think she believes me. I think she wants to, though; I hope she wants to. I hope we're friends enough that she'll allow the possibility that I'm right. _

"_Maybe I don't know exactly what I'm asking you for," I admit, "But I can't stop wanting to find out. I'm sorry. I know that's not what you want."_

"_If I knew what I wanted from you, there wouldn't be a problem." She begins marching down the path. "I'm going to school, you're going to keep in touch and we will continue being friends. You will _not_ miss out on life."_

"_I won't," I promise and it must sound sincere enough that she gives me a nod._

"_And if you still feel like it you can try to have this conversation with me, again, when I move back to La Push."_

_Two years is a long time. But I'm not going anywhere, am I? And Dinah, for all that she's moving quickly, making it a challenge to keep up, has always been steady. So I guess in two years we'll see where we are—maybe then I'll know what I mean enough to explain it to her. _


	34. Chapter 34

Judy and Baxter had been yelled at and threatened and grounded and then subjected to the best sad eyes my father could managed—they had compromised and had begged Bert to come over to our house so the three of them could hang out. They must have thought having him there would prove to my parents that they didn't need to spend time alone together, just with other wolves. Bert didn't seem to mind being the third wheel, even if my sister and her boyfriend were gross.

"Shouldn't you totally object to that?" I asked Dinah as we pretended to supervise our sister and her friends while our parents went over to my aunt's for dinner. Sam was going too. There was nothing our parents liked better than complaining that we were going to ruin everything.

"Wrestling?"

There were some advantages to having a sister who wasn't part of your average couple of disgusting, over-affectionate teenagers in the thralls of puppy love. Smart kids would be making out; my sister and her boyfriend were going over grappling holds while Bert wondered if it hurt as much as it looked.

"I meant the pathetic dopey looks that come after."

"I don't disapprove of happiness," Dinah said to me. She even pushed me towards the kitchen, so the kids could hang out without us. "So, are you going to tell me why three out of five Uley boys came up to me this morning and swore Brian was in bed all last night?"

I really shouldn't have been alone with my sister. I weighed my options. Brian would tell her anyway. Eventually. Besides, if it hurt her, she'd want that information kept in the family.

"They were trying to give him an alibi, in case you or Sam asked where he was last night."

"You don't have him out there committing crimes, do you?" Dinah almost sounded hopeful.

"He was with Ester." Dinah wasn't nearly as good as our imprints about looking impassive. She wasn't even as good as Will or Brian, though she wasn't as bad as Judy (no one was as bad as Judy). It could have been hurt that flickered across her face, though she'd probably call it annoyance, but she definitely couldn't pass it off as nothing. I could pretend for her. "He wasn't slacking. Baxter can hold down the fort for one night. And Sam's been doing pretty good lately."

"Yeah. Sure." Dinah managed: "Good for Brian."

"You o—"

"Please shut up, Levi," she said. It didn't come out with her usual bite.

"You could get Bert to help you get revenge." Dinah snorted. "If that doesn't work, I'm sure Ginger knows a few guys you could hook up with."

"That's not funny," Dinah said. But there was a small smile on her face that said differently, so I threw an arm over her shoulder and kissed her on the forehead.

"Come on. Let's eat before the cows in there get to the fridge."

* * *

><p>The girls were driving back the next morning, so we were having a going away barbecue at the Uleys. And by we, I meant everyone.<p>

It had started out that Sam wanted to do something for his daughter's last night at home and my parents had decided that was a good idea and invited the five of us over so I had to invite the rest of my pack and Bert felt bad coming without his parents and my parents felt bad coming without their parents and somehow Embry felt guilty and invited Quil who brought his family and my uncle found out and felt left out and invited his family along and then my other uncle found out and felt left out and brought his girlfriend along and Brian invited his girlfriend who had passed Ginger on her way over...

"E had food," Ginger explained to Brian when the two girls showed up together. Ester had brought potatoes, which Ginger was munching on happily. "You really want all these people here?"

Only Brian would have been patient enough to give her a smile—and mean it. No one else could have imprinted on her. "They're family."

"I'd get out while you can," Ginger stage-whispered to Ester.

"Don't be so obvious about when you're lying, Ginger," Ester said, patting the girl on the head, kissing Brian hello. "We're both glad we could make it."

"Grab food while you can," he warned Ginger. Then Brian brought Ester over to talk to Sam. Sam was polite, but he was never going to be enthusiastic about his sons dating girls who weren't their imprints. Ester didn't seem to notice. Hell, Brian was so busy playing with her hair I don't think he noticed his dad being an ass.

Ginger found her way over to the twins. They stopped throwing the football back and forth the second she appeared; the three of them immediately started trying to recruit people for a tag-football game. My guys would refuse—wasn't safe—but a few of the old-timers looked interested. Quil might technically be the oldest at this point and his body couldn't have been more than thirty. They were keen to see what they could still do (and Ginger and the twins didn't shy away from the challenge of keeping up).

My littlest cousin and the Ateara girls were being kept out of the non-super-powered showdown that was occurring by Judy and Baxter, who were sitting under the trees in the back of the yard. Judy was telling a story—she'd always liked listening to stories; she could tell a good one when she tried—and Baxter was gamely adding sound effects and acting out mock battles with her, much to the delight of the kids. Having three younger brothers had made Baxter a pansy. The five of them were so adorable it hurt.

Literally. I think my mother was having heart palpitations watching them.

"Stop smirking, Levi," she said. My dad was calling her over for the game; she promised him she'd only be a second. "It makes you look obnoxious."

"What?" I took pity on her. "Relax. That's twenty years from now."

"That's what it'll look like, though," she said almost wistfully. "My babies are all grown up."

"I'm still kind of whiny," I promised. It made her laugh.

"Good."

Then she had no choice but to get her ass over to the game. It was on. The twins and Ginger refused to be separated (honestly, I think Tommy's competitive instincts were winning out because he almost considered trading his brother if he got to keep Ginger), so the teams shook down until they were Sam's against Mom's. That was going to end well.

(Personally, I wouldn't have put Ginger and Dinah on opposite teams, either, but no one was asking me so I just kept my eyes on the food)

"It's always odd," my grandfather said from his place by my elbow, where he was trying to side-seat barbecue "When you're children stop. After you've watched them getting bigger year by year, watching them stop is always tricky. I imagine it's hard the other way around, too, watching your parents getting more and more wrinkled all of a sudden."

"Then there's you—you've got so many wrinkles I can't tell when you get a new one."

My grandfather laughed. "I've gotten three while I've been waiting for my burger."

"Genius takes patience, old man."

With us arguing about it, it didn't feel like long before the food was cooked.

My aunt and Nessie were inside (I figured I ought to start calling them my aunts, just because it would be like Seth to get married and not tell me—also, Judy had started calling her Aunt Nessie and I figured she would know best). Will and Bert were stretched out with the food on the grass, naming songs for Arthur to play (he'd been playing with his brothers before Ginger showed up, but when the game turned serious he decided to score it instead—something about NOT breaking his fingers. Wuss). Art was ignoring them, watching the game instead, not so secretly cheering on his dad's team (when my mother got the ball and he managed an approximation of Darth Vadar's theme song, even she cracked up enough to ALMOST drop the ball).

Eventually, my girlfriend came outside from the kitchen where she'd be hanging out with Francy, saying goodbye. They both came over to me—they'd be fixing up the healthy stuff, but I was the one with all the good food. Even if my imprint said: "Is it supposed to be this black?"

"That hotdog is cooked to perfection, don't even," I growled. Francy smiled, joking, I guess. Too bad she wasn't funny.

"This is really good," Kara said. There was a drop of ketchup on the side of her mouth, but my grandparents had stupidly decided to take up places at the picnic table and my imprint was right there, so I'd get it later.

"You all ready to leave?" I asked Francy. For all that she kind of drove me crazy, I would miss her. It was hard when your imprint wasn't around.

"I've got almost everything packed. I can't believe how fast the summer went by."

"You going to miss us?"

What? Nothing ever got accomplished if you didn't ask. Kara might have elbowed me (gently; she couldn't hurt me to save her life) but I didn't see anything wrong with the question. There had always been the worry that she wouldn't come back after all and I wasn't sure this summer had convinced her that coming back was a good idea.

But Francy smiled at me and here was the thing, the thing I'm sure Brian got, where she was kind of a little annoying but at the same time she was the center of my freaking universe, so I couldn't help smiling back at her. Sometimes, I got her.

"Sometimes," she promised. When she had the time, she'd miss us. And she wouldn't forget, couldn't forget, even if she wanted to. I was going to miss her; she was going to miss me.

"You coming back for Christmas?"

"Of course. Thanksgiving will depend on school. We'll see."

"Yeah." I let go of Kara for a second and stepped towards my imprint. "In case I don't see you later."

Holding her still felt right. There was that. That was a fact that was never going to change. It was always going to be true; when she was nearby everything was going to be all right.

"I think I've managed to make Arthur feel a bit more at home," she murmured as I held her. "And the twins have admitted that for all she annoys them, Ginger's their annoying brat. Bert's actually doing a pretty good job making sure she doesn't hook up with anyone too awful, though you should keep an eye on her. Good job with Brian and Ester."

"Dinah deserves most of the credit for that one," I complained into her hair. She laughed, though she sounded tired. I pushed her back, just so I could see her face. "I was mostly joking when I told Will to sleep with you."

She laughed at me; then she shrugged. "I would have made it good for him."

She would have made it good for me, too, but I wasn't going to wonder what we would have been like together.

"I don't doubt it."

The smile she gave me was warmer than usual; I thought she would have been mad because it didn't come out sounding as complimentary as it should have. Mostly it came out sounding tired; 'what if' was never something I was very interested in.

"So I know I shouldn't tell you this," she said, leaning closer to tell me anyway, "But I think Will's sincerely grateful for everything Nancy did. Though he's still an idiot, so his way of thanking people is…"

"He slept with her?" Whoops. Too loud. She glared.

"No." Her lips twitched. "Having the words thank you come from his mouth might have killed him; it sounded like he found a better use for his mouth."

Oh. "That's my boy."

"You're disgusting." But she was laughing. "So don't worry about him too much. Okay? And just because you're in charge doesn't mean you can't have help every so often."

"Yeah. Take care of yourself."

"You too."

The twins were quick to draft their sister when she drifted over, though she tried to get out of it. Dinah may have clucked like a bird. It was very dignified.

"You waited," I noticed, turning to Kara.

"Yeah, it wasn't totally awkward or anything."

It was touching, though I suspected the second hotdog she had stolen from the grill might have more to do with it. I laughed, pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. "Thank you."

"You were pretty quick."

"No, I meant thank you for—I know I've been weird around her. Brian said it was because I wasn't used to having female friends and you said she was a like my sister and I know I was kind of being an ass to you the whole time I was trying to figure that, you know, she's girl-Will. Not that he isn't kind of girly already but in a I'm not always sure I like her, but I love her and I know she's always going to come through for me and the pack sort of way. You know?"

"I know. I think I knew before you did."

Kara's voice was quiet but utterly sincere. Kara really, truly, one hundred percent honestly believed I was a good guy despite, well, the fact that I didn't used to be and still was still kind of spotty at best. I knew how to be a werewolf, but I didn't know the part where we protected innocent people no matter what and became the heroes of the story. And, this was a new experience for me, let me tell you, but I suddenly kind of got why I totally didn't deserve her.

It only lasted for a second. I was totally awesome. But, still. It was unsettling.

I kissed her, because I could and I should and she totally wanted me to. I even licked the ketchup off the side of her mouth.

"You're gross," she said, giggling.

"You're adorable."

Kara snuggled closer. It was hard for her to get her arms around me while we were standing up, but she did her best. I think she had to lock her arm around a wrist to hang on, but she managed.

"So if she's girl-Will..."

"Which is totally a thing. It should be a thing. I should patent it."

"I guess that sort of explains why you kind of wanna sleep with her but even you aren't crazy enough to actually do it."

"That wasn't funny."

"Sorry," Kara said as she leaned against me. Then, quieter, "Yes, it kind of was."

Kind of.

"I'll keep you anyway," I promised.

"Good."

When I had to go ref the game because of course Quil and Embry were cheating and my mom was throwing a fit about it, I left her talking to Brian and Ester. Kara didn't seem to mind—she cheered me on. I told my father to wait until I blew the damn whistle and we got down to work.

* * *

><p>The Uleys might have cried like the little bitches they were when their sister left, but us Blacks were far more manly about everything. Well, Judy looked miserable, but then, she'd get over it.<p>

"I'll see you guys at Thanksgiving," Dinah promised, hugging her again. And then she hugged my parents, told me not to be a dumbass—words of wisdom that I may have heard once or twice before—and then drove off to pick up her friend.

My parents had their own stuff to do, but we agreed that tonight, for some reason, all four of us were going to be home for dinner. We were still debating the merits of roast beef or chicken when Will showed up.

"Shut up," he told me. Then he did the polite stuff with my parents—they were fine, he was fine, wasn't it time Grandpa Billy admitted he needed someone to live with him instead of relying on Aunt Rachel to stop by every day to check on him?—before they headed out. When it was just the three of us, we headed off to the Uley house.

Bert was already there.

Arthur let us into the house, but he was taking off to give lessons so we just waved him on. Brian and Baxter were sitting glumly around the kitchen.

We'd seen the twins out for a run as we made our way over. Ginger was with them. It was actually kind of impressive that she and Timmy could argue that much and keep running.

"Dad's at work," Brian said. "He seemed fine."

"You losers are the ones who looked depressed."

"We're fine," Baxter said. My sister had sat down on his lap (and only partially because it made stealing bacon off of Brian's plate easier) so he probably was.

"Run?" I offered.

The five of them pretended to sigh. For a second.

"Last one has to do dishes," Judy called and there was a scramble for the back door.

We'd be all right.

* * *

><p>AN: The End! Well, there's my billion and one (well, three, maybe four) epilogues, but that's it for Levi.

Thanks to everyone who managed to slog through all this. I've been kind of burnt out the last little while, but it's up and it's done, so I hope you enjoyed it.


	35. Ginger 1 of 2

Ginger 1/2

* * *

><p>Ginger was ten when she first heard about the Uley boys.<p>

One of her sisters—probably Vick, but it could have been Mel, Ginger didn't really remember—was getting ready for a date. The other was complaining about her day and Ginger was trying not to be too annoying, so they wouldn't kick her out like they usually did. They were big girls, her half-sisters, and they didn't always like when she hovered.

Mel, she was almost sure, was the one that complained, "Fran was here with her Mom. God, she's such a two-faced bitch."

"Not that you'd ever dare say that to her face," Vick said. "Ginger, don't touch that!"

Ginger put down the tube of lipstick and decided sitting on the bed would be less likely to get her kicked out. "Why wouldn't she say it?"

Mel wasn't afraid of anything.

"You never pick a fight with someone from La Push." Ginger rolled her eyes; everyone knew that. They looked after each other, in the other town. And if they didn't get you, the bears would.

"Plus if you're nice to Fran, she might let you near her brother," Vick said. Mel was loud; Vick was sneaky. The Walker girls always got what they wanted.

"Brothers," Mel said. "I bet a bunch of them are your age, Gin. Get yourself a Uley a boy, if you can."

"A what? What's so special about them?" she had wondered.

Both her sisters rolled their eyes. "You'll figure it out," Mel had promised.

* * *

><p>When Ginger met Art, she figured it out.<p>

Mel's latest guy was in a band. He'd played a guitar for the Walker girls once or twice and Ginger hadn't been all that impressed, but she'd just smiled. Mel didn't really like him, but that wasn't really the point, so she just kept her mouth shut so Mel wouldn't be pissed. Apparently the guitarist was better than she thought (or the rest of the band was good enough to make up for him; she never did figure out which it was).

Even though Art was just a kid—and not the way she was just a kid, where it was impossible to tell she was just twelve when she put on the right makeup and borrowed her sisters' clothes—Art was allowed in the band because he was that freaking good.

He was so good they made him come to the party even though no one thought he'd enjoy it. He was so good they wanted to find someone to drag him upstairs and make a man of him.

Art was sneaking out the back when he bumped into Ginger, making out with Vick's ex-boyfriend.

She'd never seen a guy try to get out of meeting Mel before. When she asked him where he was going, Art apologized and told her to thank her sisters for inviting him to the party.

"Later, kid," Vick's ex had said. Ginger climbed off him though, trying to figure it out.

"Wait up," she ordered. Art stayed, even though he looked mighty uncomfortable while she and Vick's ex had gotten into it for a minute or two, until he eventually headed back inside, calling her—whatever. Even not knowing anything, she was more interested in the thin, awkward boy waiting for her like she'd asked.

"You're not having fun," she realized.

"I am," he lied, so badly she grinned. "I just—I want some fresh air."

"You don't have to hang around those losers if you don't want to."

"I thought I was coming to play," he explained. "But I—this? This is just so not my scene."

"What do you do?" she asked.

He sang for her, right there in the backyard, sang _ I am just a poor boy though my story's seldom told..._ and she was in love with him by the end of the song. It took Art just three minutes to make her fall in love with him for the rest of her damn life.

That was part of being a Uley.

* * *

><p>They saw each other here and there, Arthur and Ginger. She was pretty sure he was interested, but apparently being good and adorable and lovable wasn't the only thing in the Uley package: there was also the inability to just act on your freaking feelings. Annoyed, Ginger had crashed Dolly Ateara's birthday party.<p>

Ginger met Brian and it wasn't like the world stopped.

It was different from meeting Art. Where Art had been trying to hide, Brian was at the center of the whole shindig. He was the biggest guy Ginger had ever seen, towering over everything, a hunk of manmeat she'd joke about wanting to devour but was secretly just a little bit scared of. But when his eyes met hers she wasn't scared anymore. Brian looked at her and Ginger grinned, seeing the family resemblance in his face and in the kindness in his eyes.

Brian came over to talk to her at one point, not like some of Vick and Mel's friends did, looking down her top, trying to make sure her sisters weren't around, already trying to pick out spots they could take her to. No, Brian Uley just came over to her, even asked her if he could sit beside her before he did. When he asked her questions, he wanted to hear the answers. She'd never had anyone listen to her the way Brian had that day, not even Art.

But she'd told Brian, "I'm in love with your brother."

There'd been no way, she'd thought, that Brian would be interested in her. She wasn't a kid anymore and she knew all about the Uleys. She knew all about Brian and Dinah Black, and how they'd always be together, even if they weren't anymore. Other girls had tried. Vick had tried. He wasn't interested in any of them. But Ginger could maybe use his interest in her, whatever it was, to get his brother.

"He likes you, too," Brian said. "But don't tell him I said that."

It was the first of many secrets Brian asked her to keep.

* * *

><p>Two months in and it was over between Ginger and Art.<p>

They were two good months and Ginger always looked back on them fondly. They didn't see each other a lot but they messaged constantly—Art always had a lyric or two for her, sometimes stuff that he'd written, just for her, lines about a tough, beautiful, fearless chick that he just couldn't get out of his head. When they did get together it was mostly because of Brian, who'd drive Art over and leave them alone. He was working around Neah Bay and always remembered her name when they met up. Ginger liked him.

Her sisters laughed when she told them she was dating Art (too young, they declared him) but set about trying to get Brian out of the deal. Ginger remembered watching him with them, the way Brian looked like Art had, that first night, wanting to slip away. The joy she'd felt, knowing he didn't want them, surprised her. But even then, they were her boys. No one else's.

Mel had told Vick she'd watch the house in case Ginger's mom came back, that day, but she had gotten bored and taken off, so it was just Ginger and Art in her house. He was telling her about a new song he'd written and about Brian's friend Levi. Ginger knew Levi Black. Sort of. He'd gone with Mel once upon a time; he might even have hooked up with Vick at some point (Mel said so, but when Ginger asked Vick, all she said was, "Fuck Will," and Ginger never did work out if that was a yes or not). Her sisters had gone into great detail about Levi Black—he looked gigantic and terrifying, but his dick really was as big as his ego, and apparently he fucked like he didn't want you to forget. But as she sat on the couch, in her see-through shirt, her skirt riding up her thighs, she realized, listening to Art, she'd never heard quite that much about Levi Black before.

Ginger got up, sat down on Art's lap and kissed him.

They'd kissed before; Art was pretty good at it now, if she did say so herself. His ability to concentrate, to make her feel like she was the only one in the world while her lips were on him, made her shiver. She had a few thoughts about his fingers, too, his musicians fingers, but she never got around to doing anything about that because Art was a Uley and going impossibly slow was genetic, he said. And because Art kissed her back but…

Houston, there was a problem.

"You really like him, huh?"

If Ginger had money, she would have bet all of it that Art's entire body flushed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Levi. You really like him. More than you like me."

Ginger liked to pretend it was inevitable, that she always would have done the right thing. But she knew that it wasn't, knew that it _really_ hurt, looking down at the boy who was good and sweet and nice and just didn't like her. If he'd said the wrong thing then, she would have ruined his whole life to get back at him.

But Art insisted: "I really like you, Ginger. You're the most amazing girl I know. I just—"

He couldn't maintain eye contact. His eyes ended up on her chest.

"You're scared of my boobs," she joked. It wasn't really a joke. Art looked too miserable for her to find it funny. "It's fine. Whatever. You just should have told me you'd rather kiss him."

"I don't—"

He was shaking underneath her. Ginger let herself fall off of him, though she curled against his side. It didn't take Art long to wrap an arm around her shoulder. "It's okay," she told him then because Art had walked all the way over the time she'd called him crying. If it wasn't okay for Art, she'd find some way to make it okay.

Ginger didn't know how long they sat there, how many times she repeated it. Eventually, he explained about Levi—he didn't like wearing clothes much, Levi, and he was kind of super proportional, but he was also just always there and always made things better and apparently everyone in La Push thought he was Jesus freaking Christ, too. Ginger kind of hated him on principle, but she didn't tell that to Art.

"I've never liked a girl the way I like you," Art said after awhile. "I thought—I guess I was hoping…maybe if I didn't know him. But I do—I'm really sorry, Ginger. I never meant—You think you can ever forgive me?"

"Whatever." But she didn't move from his side. "So we need to tell everyone I dumped your sorry ass because all your love songs were getting kind of creepy."

"Hey."

"And I expect an angry riot girl breakup song out of this, by the way."

"Promise. Thank you. So much. You don't know—thank you so, so, so much, Ginger."

"Stop it or I'll kick your ass," she told him.

Even after that, though, she kept calling him. It was habit, really, and she'd always liked talking to him. She had plenty of friends, especially a lot of guy friends, but Art was all the way in La Push and he was comforting the way no one else around her was.

The night he said to her, "You just want a gay best friend," she'd laughed at him. It must have taken him ages to work up the nerve to say the word out loud, so she had to laugh, to let him know she didn't give a shit. But afterwards, when they were quiet, she told him, "Some days my mom just doesn't come home."

"I'm sorry," Art said. And he really, really meant it. And he wouldn't _ever_ tell anyone.

* * *

><p>The first time Ginger met the twins, they ignored her, too busy playing with each other to bother with her. The second time she met them, she got in a screaming match with one of them because he just wouldn't shut up (and demanded every single second of attention, EVER, it felt like). The third time, sitting around a kitchen table, she thought maybe she could get along with them for the sake of Art and Brian.<p>

The fourth time, Timmy asked if she wanted to play basketball with them.

By then, she could tell them apart. They looked less like twins and more like a freak show, identical down to their thick eyebrows, but it was easy enough to tell them apart, if you wanted, which she hadn't, because Timmy was the one that was talking and Tommy was the one who wasn't Timmy. She knew Timmy was talking to her and that Tommy was dribbling the basketball behind him, waiting for them to finish the conversation. Neither boy looked all that interested in having her around, but Brian wasn't going to let them play unless she came to, so there they all were.

"I don't play basketball," Ginger informed them. "Only losers play."

Timmy launched into a speech that she ignored while she wished Art had been around today. And she wondered when visiting the Uley house stopped being about seeing Art and started just being about not being at her empty house.

Tommy threw the basketball at her face.

Ginger deflected it, barely, so the stupid thing rolled down the driveway. "What the hell?!"

"You've never played before," Tommy said. He glanced at his brother, who said to her, "We can teach you, if you want. We're pretty awesome teachers and Art said you're a really quick study."

"Why would I want to learn how to play basketball?"

"Sacred?" Tommy asked her. He didn't smile as much as his brother, either, but he smiled then. She wanted to punch him. She almost did.

"You're going to regret this," she told him.

"We're regretting it already," Timmy informed her. His brother got the ball while Timmy pulled her in front of the basketball hoop. "All right, ready for the Uley twin spectacular all-star basketball camp for weirdos who never bothered to learn how to play basketball before?"

Tommy held the ball out to her.

"Whatever," she said as she grabbed the stupid thing.

Timmy and Tommy were Art's brothers. They were Brian's brothers. How bad could they be?

* * *

><p>Brian had tried to explain imprinting to her; Brian sucked when it came to talking about the wolf stuff. He started whining about all the cool stuff they could do because Brian was an idiot. Brian was vague when he first explained imprinting to her, embarrassed the second time and just awkward the third—she understood it meant that Brian was hers forever and that he'd be red the entire time, when they ended up fucking.<p>

Brian was the most sexually repressed guy she had ever met. Still, if that's what she had to deal with to get her own Uley, she'd take it.

Levi tried to explain imprinting to her in greater detail afterwards, to make up for Brian, but he'd just ended up confusing them both.

If Ginger had been in charge she would have sent Will or Bert next. Bert could explain anything, eventually, even though he hated to talk, and Will could explain anything, as long as you weren't squeamish about how he said it. She suspected Baxter thought he was protecting both of them, like either one of them was the kind of guy who broke down at the smallest hint that once upon a time they knew someone who had the indecency to die (like they weren't the sort of guys who knew a little pain was acceptable, if you could remember those quiet, happy, brief moments before it got, well, the way it was). Not that she said that to Baxter. She just shut up and listened.

Imprinting meant she belonged to the pack.

Once, they thought it meant she'd be with the wolf who imprinted on her. Now, they weren't sure. They thought it just meant she and Brian would be very important to each other's lives. It didn't have to be about sex.

Ginger wasn't an idiot.

Everything was about sex

(unless you were a Uley boy and maybe that's what her sisters were talking about—but if Brian was her imprint then…well, it wouldn't be the first time she'd met a guy who treated her like a kid and then tried to fuck her; Ginger decided it didn't matter either way; she'd do whatever the hell Brian wanted as long as it meant she could keep all her Uley boys).

* * *

><p>The second she moved to La Push, the twins invited her to run with them. Well, Timmy invited her along and Tommy didn't stop him, even though he must have thought Ginger had forgotten what his real name was because she liked saying Lassie too much (he'd start grinding his teeth and then he'd try pulling her hair, hard, but she was getting faster, so now he had to run if he wanted to catch her).<p>

It didn't take her long to realize Timmy had asked her along so he didn't have to run with his brother by himself. It wasn't that Timmy didn't think he could keep up—just that he didn't want to every single day of the week. But if moving to La Push had taught her that Art desperately needed her around when he had a crush and that Brian was just pathetic when it came to women despite being built like a brick house, it had also taught her that the twins didn't do things apart.

They also, she had noticed very quickly, tended to do what Timmy wanted.

Because Timmy would talk and Tommy wouldn't; because Tommy didn't care and Timmy did; because that's just the way they were used to. So even though he hated it, Timmy ran with his brother every day because it was the one thing Tom said he wanted.

And the second Timmy could get someone else to help him...well, if Ginger was there, too, it didn't matter if Timmy needed the day to recover, right?

Ginger rolled her eyes, but by the time she realized Timmy's complaining had been semi-serious, she got why Lassie was so into it. Running made everything simpler.

Of course, running made everything more complicated, too.

But that was just because she was running with Uleys.

Uleys made everything more complicated.

* * *

><p>Because of Brian, because she was Brian's imprint, Ginger got to hang around the rest of the pack from time to time.<p>

She was supposed to be scared of Levi and Will. Everyone was supposed to be scared of Will; Will was scary so the rest of the pack didn't have to be. And Levi was bigger than big and stronger than strong and even though everyone around La Push believed (he was God Almighty) he wouldn't hurt anything that didn't deserve it, people were still just a little bit uneasy around him because he was just so damn big. But Ginger wasn't scared of either of them.

For the most part, she was more comfortable around them than the rest of the pack and its various groupies (Bert excepted because Bert was the most comfortable person to be around, ever; Dinah Black was a lucky whore). She didn't feel like she was hitting a puppy when she talked to them; they didn't find her language or her stories cringe worthy, something to be swept under the rug so no one would see. The two of them even occasionally appreciated her sense of humour, which couldn't be said for any of the Uleys (and especially not for Dinah Black, who had a better 'shut your fucking mouth' face than Ginger's mother).

It was hard to be scared of Will when he found her endlessly amusing. "I remember Levi at puberty, sweetheart. You keep trying to shock me. It's cute," he said to her once. They annoyed the hell out of each other (he was a total ass), but it was impossible to be scared of someone who thought you were _adorable_.

Levi was even less scary, for all that he was twice as big. While Brian stuttered and struggled over explaining the wolf stuff, Ginger managed to figure a lot of it out. And what she understood was this—Levi Black was never going to hurt her. She was pack; Levi might growl and scream and threaten, but he would never, ever, ever hurt her. She'd never known a guy like that in her entire life who wasn't a Uley, so she wasn't scared of him. Besides, he was so much fun to be around she forgot to be scared.

The only one in the pack she found scary was Baxter.

Oh, Baxter was a Uley through and through. He was kind and courteous and occasionally made her think he had fallen out of an old-timey novel. He was bigger than Brian, sure, and Ginger privately thought he must be a better fighter than Brian (from watching the twins, she had a good idea of how a guy moved when he could throw a good looking punch and how a guy moved when he could throw a punch that _hurt_), but that didn't scare her. Levi wouldn't let him hurt her.

Also, Baxter was dating Judy Black and Judy was like a really tall, not-blue smurf. Or maybe something else, equally annoying and also a little squeaky. She was just so _nice_. It was revolting. But it should have made being scared of Baxter impossible, because how could Ginger possibly ever be scared of a guy when she had watched him hold Judy—bouncy, bright, disgustingly happy all the freaking time Judy—on his lap, letting her draw smiley faces with icing on his cheeks and then lick it off?

Ginger shouldn't have been able to keep a straight face around Baxter, afterwards, let alone be scared of him.

But she stayed away from Baxter.

(Baxter sat her down at the table and said her marks were unacceptable; Baxter said he'd never bring it up again if she just tried studying, just once, just to see how she did; she threw the test out the second she got it, but the twins must have told him anyway—she didn't need Baxter telling her it mattered because she wasn't a Uley. She was going to end up with three kids she didn't want and a string of boyfriends who thought she was getting fat in a house she only got because no one thought she could destroy it worse than it already was and because someone wanted to fuck her underage daughter and no amount of Baxter saying she could do better was going to change that)

* * *

><p>When she was fourteen and they were thirteen, Ginger raced the Uley twins along the coast. It was Timmy's idea because while he thought running had no point, racing he understood completely. Tom set it up, because he had to handle the details because Timmy just got distracted all the time. It was fifteen hundred feet long, give or take.<p>

They could have all raced at once, but Ginger didn't really want to go home that day, so she'd asked them to prolong the game. They raced one-on-one. Because Tim liked the idea of running more than actually doing it, he sat the first race out.

Ginger ran against Tom as hard as she could, pumping her legs as fast as they would go, breathing deeply, trying to remember everything he'd mentioned about her crappy technique in the past. The wind caught in her hair and she just pushed back against it, she was good at pushing, gasping from the effort of going that fast.

Tom beat her by at least fifteen seconds.

He didn't rub it in. Tom liked winning but he didn't like rubbing it in your face that he'd won. He just won. They walked back slowly, taking their time, knowing one of them would be up against Tim when they got back. He told her to pump her arms more; she told him to shut the fuck up; he let her ride piggyback the last half because the starting line was so fucking far.

Once they got back, she probably should have rested some more, but hyped on adrenaline Ginger insisted they get the show on the road. Timmy started setting up their race like they were in a fight to the death and Ginger rolled her eyes at him and took her mark.

Ginger ran against Timmy while she was already out of breath, muscles protesting when they realized she wanted to torture them again so soon. The first hundred meters were okay, but the last four hundred her legs felt like rubber. Her lungs burned. By the time she got to the finish line, her spit was thick and disgusting in her mouth.

Ginger beat Timmy by ten seconds (well, at least eight).

Timmy let her rub it in, listing off a reason for his loss in his customary rapid fire way. He liked winning, but he didn't need it. Ginger wasn't like either of the twins—when she didn't win she threw fits and yelled and was generally a pain in the ass. Well, she was generally a pain in the ass, anyway, they always said.

The boys took their time setting up, letting Tim get his breath back, letting themselves rest up. Ginger, waiting by the finish line for them to get going already, was getting annoyed by the time they finally started running.

The twins tied.

Okay, so, Tom won by a hair. It was close enough that if Ginger hadn't been by the finish line, she might have had trouble guessing, though.

Ginger yelled at Tom for a good five minutes and then Timmy started yelling back and half an hour later she marched into Brian's house and started crying and Tom wouldn't talk to her for a week. She decided then and there that she hated the twins.

"You shouldn't be mad at him for not letting you win," Brian told her on the drive home. Ginger rolled her eyes and stared out the window and decided Brian was even dumber than his dumb ass brothers.

* * *

><p>At least Art still liked her.<p>

"You're kind of dumb, you know," he said to her when he came over that night (it was easier to talk at her place than his; no dumb brothers around; no anyone around). "You're lucky I love you."

"Fuck you," she said. "You're dumber. Which one of us still hasn't slept with his boyfriend?"

"His dad would kill him if we got caught."

"You don't know that."

"He already treats him like—" But you weren't allowed to talk shit about the werewolves. Or ex-werewolves. It was a thing, in La Push. "And he doesn't even know...and who knows what my dad would do."

"Look disappointed you were engaging in fun and stoically continue on with whatever he was doing?"

Sam always looked disappointed, but maybe that was just because she was around. Fuck him. Tom had told her about the year before Art started high school, when their sister worked three jobs while she went to school since Brian had just phased and they still ended up 'borrowing' food from around town because no one would just fucking help (because that would mean talking about shit). When she'd said that made Sam an ass, he'd gotten pissed, because Uleys hated when you said shit about Sam, but he hadn't gotten as pissed as the others might have and she'd gotten exactly how much Sam had managed to hurt them, worse than the being hungry. So fuck Sam.

"That or disown me."

He said it like a joke. It wasn't.

Ginger always figured each time she saw her mom was probably going to be the last time. She didn't quite get it. Whatever. He didn't come over so they could mope. Leave that for brooding Brian.

"So you'll just stick to sucking his dick?"

"I'm pretty good at it," Art said, bragging just a little. Uley's could brag, though they rarely did; but when they did it meant they were really, really good and it was a bad idea to bet against them.

"You were taught by an expert."

Art rolled his eyes at her and she giggled. What did she need the twins for? It's not she could talk like that to them. She wasn't even sure if they understood she was a girl. She was pretty sure they didn't understand sex. Uleys were really slow when it came to sex. It's why she always figured she'd be over the hill by the time Brian figured out he wanted to fuck her.

Whatever. It's not like Brian understood anything.

Not that she cared.

* * *

><p>The next time she was at the Uley's, E was there. She was Brian's girlfriend and for the sheer balls of dating Dinah Black's boyfriend when even Vick and Mel were too scared, Ginger decided she had to like E. It helped the woman made the best brownies known to mankind.<p>

"Brian still mad?"

"I'm his girlfriend, not his secretary."

"Could you explain it to him?" Ginger asked, poking at the bag of flour. "I don't think he gets it."

"Gets what?"

"You know."

"No, Ginger. I won't know until you tell me." Ester went back to stirring something, even though she kept her eyes on Ginger. So Ginger told her. All E said was: "I thought it was weird when Brian said you wanted the boys to let you win."

"Thanks, Cookie." It was a sign of how Timmy's stupidity was catching. E cooked; somehow she had become Cookie. Ginger was only a little bit sure it didn't make her a total loser. "I don't want anyone letting _anyone_ win."

"You didn't have to yell," E said. She was busy cooking, but she didn't expect Ginger to help. She'd ask if she wanted help, not just expect you to offer just because you were there. E preferred doing her own thing by herself. Ginger respected that.

"It looked like a freaking tie," Ginger snapped, feeling the familiar anger rising up her throat. "Do you know how much he'd have to hold back to make it look like a tie? And he always does it. Drives me nuts."

"I think he's starting to understand that about you."

"He should get it faster. Whatever. If he wants to lose, let him lose. It's not like I care."

"Don't be dumb, Ginger, if you can help it."

E said that to her a lot. The funny thing, Ginger thought, the thing that no one else probably believed, was that E thought she could help it. E wouldn't have made macaroons , Ginger's favourites, just in case Ginger happened by, if she didn't think that.

"So what am I supposed to do?" Ginger asked. Ester didn't say answer. "Fine. I'll go apologize. Geez."

For those stupid Uley boys, Ginger would have done anything.


	36. Dinah

A/N: And now for something stylistically different!

* * *

><p>Dinah<p>

* * *

><p>Dinah Black goes back to school. She leaves behind her family and her ex-boyfriend and Bert, who is her friend but also something else that she can't define so she just thinks of him as Bert (and also sometimes as <em>hers<em>, but she chooses to ignore those moments of insanity). School is not exactly as she remembered; her third year is harder than the ones before. She'll get through it. She always does.

Her sister and her sister's boyfriend that she used to think of as a little brother (and sometimes as her future brother-in-law who is now almost definitely going to be her brother-in-law but in a different way than she planned and that thought always hurts her, always will, just a little bit) come to visit when they can. They aren't really allowed to be alone together in La Push, her mother says, so her father ships them to Seattle every so often because her father loves to spoil her sister because he knows nothing will. Dinah scowls at Baxter a lot, pleased she can still terrify him even though he's two hundred pounds of solid muscle, and giggles with her sister late into the night, listening to stories about how perfect he is.

She does not go home for Bert's seventeenth birthday.

Even though Francy has been her best friend since forever (or was it Brian and then Francy? Dinah never figured it out and now Brian has a girlfriend who isn't Dinah), Dinah sometimes can't stand her. She might even hate her, especially when Francy smirks and says, "You're so obviously not thinking about it, you might as well think about it." But she is not thinking about it—seventeen is still a teenager even if it's not sixteen and anyway, sixteen would have been old enough, if the only thing she cared about were technicalities. Francy is the one who sends home a card for them both, so Dinah doesn't hate her. Dinah is the one who spends three hours on the computer talking to Bert about mutant superheroes because he smiles the whole damn time and she kind of likes it.

Not that it matters because when she goes home for Christmas, Bert has a girlfriend. "It doesn't count," Levi says because her brother is a jackass.

Bert met Jane online. Online she stays, because she lives in Texas and even for a werewolf that's pretty far away. But Bert is happy, really happy, though slightly less happy when she is around so she tells him he's an idiot and that she's happy for him (it's not really a lie because she likes him happy and blushing and thinking about writing sappy little poems for the girl he can't stop thinking about and he can't do that for her because she hasn't been a girl in a while, so she's happy he's got Jane). Jane is pretty and sweet and nice, says Judy, and Dinah trusts her sister.

There's mistletoe above Bert's head and she doesn't even think, she just turns away because he has a _girlfriend_ and so of course she can't kiss him, but she can't help seeing the hurt on his face. So she yells at him, just a little, not really raising her voice, but making it emphatic, that Jane deserves better.

Bert doesn't call her all of January. Or February. But he calls in March and the first thing he says is an apology because she was right—Jane deserves better—and he was wrong—he just has a hard time keeping his head around her. And she has no idea how she feels about him so she can't be too mad that he feels exactly the same way.

When she goes home for the summer, she goes without Francy, who is dating this white guy that everyone else on the rez hates. Dinah hates him because he likes Francy but he doesn't _know_ her, but the rest of the town hates him because he's not from home, so she has to spend her time defending the loser. Brian actually seems hurt by this, but it's not her job to explain. It's his job to pay attention, so she just ends up feeling a little disappointed.

Everything else is perfect—she has a job and her family and her people and Bert has Jane who makes him happy in a way Dinah doesn't think she could—except that when she's around Bert she sometimes forgets all about Jane. Worse, she thinks he does too because she can feel him watching her. She is not that girl. Dinah would _never_ be that girl and Bert gets that because he starts avoiding her. Only that hurts worse than anything, so Dinah doesn't know quite what to do.

Levi just laughs at her, tells her to fuck the kid and get it out of her system—her brother is the most obvious person on the planet, thinks if he baits her into being with Bert it'll magically make everything okay between them and the idea that it might, that being in his arms just once would make her forget _everything_ else, is the reason Dinah doesn't do it. Judy tells her that it's okay to be confused sometimes; Dinah wonders when her little sister got so smart.

Bert comes over and tells her it's over between him and Jane. And then he tells her why.

"I cared about her. She was really great. But she wasn't you. I know you don't want me to miss out on life. I get that. But I don't see why caring about you means I'll miss out on anything. I'll do what I want. I'll finish high school and work at my dad's store. I'll fight vampires and protect our tribe. I'll do all that, just like I want to. But I have to do it while loving you. I can't not."

What the hell is she supposed to say to that?

"I can't," is what she says, but what she means is 'I'm terrified of how much you mean that' and also 'please, let this be what you really want because I can't be the monster, I refuse to be the monster, but I want you, I want you, I want' and somehow Bert gets that because he doesn't just leave. He just stands there on her porch (and her family's two feet away and her siblings are hearing every word; but then, they read his mind so they probably already know this so she's not going to bother being embarrassed) and waits for her to figure it out.

"Okay," she says after a moment. What else can she say? Not when she wants to say so much more, things that wouldn't be okay, not when he's still in high school, her little sister's friend, and all she wants to do is press against him. "Just give me a minute. Just…"

All Bert does is nod. He leaves her. Because he gets that she needs time and he's said his piece. He gives her space and he lets her do what she wants, but he also makes sure she knows what he wants and Dinah isn't used to men (boys, he is just a boy) who can do both, balance what they want and what she wants together.

He has laid out what he wants on the table so clearly that she must take him seriously. This is what he wants—he wants her. She has to decide if she can give him that or not because his simple honesty deserves a response.

She ends up at Will's and her aunt is surprised but lets her in, directs Dinah to his room where he's sitting beside her best friend on his bed, watching something on a computer. Francy just glances at her and announces she's getting him something to eat and he complains and flips her off and then smiles at her back in a way Dinah doesn't think he'd have wanted her to see.

"Was Marlena our cousin?"

It doesn't undo him the way it might have a few years ago, though Will clenches his jaw in a way that can't be pleasant. He doesn't answer either, but goes to his bookshelf without a word and starts looking for something. Dinah's not a patient person but she waits and she lets him pull it together and when he turns around he hands her, "medical history. In case you ever have kids. Embry's mom got it for me" and she glances at it and there's no name to go with all the details but she knows her grandfather's problems and this isn't them.

"It's the best thing that'll ever happen to you."

Most of the time they spend together is spent arguing and Dinah's never heard Will sound soft like that before. He means those words, means and believes them and says them like a prayer. There's grief in them too and more pain than Dinah would like because it's been _years_ and he's happy in a way he wasn't, even when Marlena was around. When he had Marlena he was putting himself together after years and years of self-destructing and she_ died_ before he managed to do more than simply stop getting worse. And now he's in a good place, together in a way he wasn't when she was alive, but there's still grief and maybe it's because she never saw the final product, never got to meet the man she convinced him he could become. And maybe it's never going to go away, maybe it never can, and that hurts, too.

Dinah nods because it's that or cry; she can't remember the last time she cried in front of him (the last time he cried in front of her, Marlena had just died) and she's not about to start now.

When Will walks out of his room she follows him, follows him to the kitchen where Francy is cutting up fruit. "She kissed Bert," he tells her best friend and if it's not the truth it's a damn good guess and Dinah blushes like it's true.

"It's about time," Francy says and it's just so hypocritical of her, standing there in the Lahote kitchen like she belongs, letting Will look at her like that when Francy's never going to stay, just come home for the weekend to soothe her own guilt, but Dinah bites it down. Because what Dinah wants is _hers_ and she's still afraid of it and how much worse can it be when it isn't yours?

And armed with knowledge (medical history and the look in Will's eye, remembering) she ends up at the Call house and doesn't blush when Embry opens the door. His son comes out to talk to her on the porch and she doesn't know what to say and doesn't know what to do and he's just standing there looking at her.

"Okay," she says and he doesn't understand (how can he when she doesn't understand?) but it doesn't matter because he's there and somehow that's enough to make her strong again and she walks forward and kisses him right on the mouth.

It's a light kiss, lips brushing lips, and he doesn't try to deepen it. He doesn't try to do anything, not touch her, not kiss her, just lets her brush her lips against his. Levi told her he went to visit Jane, told her things she didn't want to know about him touching someone else, loving someone else, but she was glad, too, because he's just standing there and at least she knows it's because he wants to and not because he doesn't know what to do.

"Okay, what?" Bert says and she laughs. All the imprinting and werewolf crap and sometimes it's easy to forget that she likes him, likes the way he's so steady and funny and sweet and all these other things that make her smile to think about.

"Okay," she tells him again and this time when she kisses him her lips are firm.

And this time when she kisses him, he kisses her back.

There's just a few weeks left of summer, but they don't date. Not the way she thinks of as dating, anyway, not going out or staying in, just the two of them. He doesn't offer and she doesn't offer, so they don't. But when the pack gets together, the pack always gets together, they curl together, his arm steady around her waist, and people don't dare to tease them and they just are. He kisses her lightly, but he's hesitant, still not sure around a woman despite Jane and she gathers her courage that it might work out this time with each light kiss and each gentle touch.

After Brian, Dinah decided she didn't do long distance relationships. Long distance relationships are stupid and hard and more effort than they're worth. But Dinah's not afraid to admit when she's wrong, admit when she's been too stubborn (she's always too stubborn, but not always wrong, though this time she is) and she has to admit a long distance relationship with Bert isn't so bad. They talk every night and he comes up on weekends and Francy smirks and is unbearable but Dinah can't blame her for saying "I told you so" every so often.

It's only natural to keep him in her room when he comes over. He stays on the floor. She explains it's because they're both over six feet and she only has the single bed; he says she doesn't have to explain and that's enough to make her want to. Instead, she lets his breathing lull her to sleep some nights and thinks about how she'd rather have him beside her. And Dinah's never been one for ignoring what she wants, so one night she pulls him down to the bed instead of directing him to the floor and for all that he said she didn't have to explain, Bert really likes getting to stay on her bed.

And she's underneath him and he's kissing along her jaw and muttering pleas against her neck because he's not entirely sure what to do and suddenly she _gets _that this is Bert and it won't hurt and it will be alright. They kiss and touch but he doesn't push because she's got one of the good ones and when he falls asleep she hopes she can tell him anything.

When she comes home for Thanksgiving she goes to Brian, who reminds her that she is brave, that she can do this. It has to be where no one can hear and there are too many werewolves around La Push but Brian loves her still (and she loves him, still loves him, always will, but he's not Bert) and they manage. She brings Bert to the beach and remembers Brian's promise that no one will come by and she waits until it's dark out because she doesn't want to see his face.

She's not going to see his face because he's going to get this _wrong_, there is no right, but that's not his fault.

"When I was fifteen I had a boyfriend." Such a simple thing, really, something that could be said about a lot of girls. "And I told him I wasn't ready to have sex." Another simple thing, though most girls would not have been as blunt as she had been, as firm, as sure of themselves at fifteen as she had been, as she has always been, so certain about herself and her feelings and so unafraid to voice them. "We went to this party. I started to drink. A lot. And then he took me upstairs and I told him I didn't want it. I think I told him then," though she couldn't remember, the only thing she remembered was her shoe fell off as he pushed inside her, the stupid black patent flats she wore because he hated that she was so tall, "I didn't want to. I wasn't ready. But he raped me and in the morning he told me how good it had been."

And she'd gone home and thought she was such a slut for giving in after a few drinks. She'd turned up her music and tried to drown out the words dancing around her head until Francy came over and explained it wasn't just a few drinks (and Francy'd heard from friends, Francy heard everything from everyone, that he hadn't been drunk at all) and it wasn't supposed to be like that. It wasn't supposed to be this weight on your chest and it wasn't supposed to be dirt on your skin that you couldn't clean at the thought of him touching you and it wasn't supposed to be you dying on the inside, in all the important places, when he climbed on top of you.

"The funny thing, I've always thought, is that I've always been more mad at myself for not being able to name it for what it was as it was happened than I've been at him for doing it. All I could think was that I didn't want it, but I couldn't think of the word the whole time."

Ha ha. So fucking funny.

And Bert doesn't say anything and she exhales. It's not so tight in her chest any more, once she's got over that part, so she explains that Francy told Emily who told Sue; Sue and Charlie threw her in therapy, drove her there and picked her up and made sure no one found out unless she told them because at least that was in her control. She doesn't tell Bert about the way Levi beat up Alec after, for being her ex-boyfriend, not for raping her because Levi didn't know (still doesn't because he's magically enhanced to _kill_ things and Alec isn't worth it), because that wasn't justice. She didn't get justice; Charlie had sat down with her and said he'd do his best, if that's what she wanted, but even as a kid she'd known it was his word against hers. It was her word against his and she hadn't even been able to figure it out while it was happening. How could she prove it to anyone else?

Bert doesn't say anything. Someone always says something afterwards because the silence is too much for them, not when they know she's breaking in front of them, all over again even though she is stronger than that. She was strong before him and she made herself strong afterwards. Not stronger, she knows that, knows life isn't the movies where getting raped makes you a superhero, knows there's always going to be something not quite the way it should be in her, but she hasn't let it stop her and she is damn proud of that (mentally thanks to her therapist when she thinks of herself as whole and strong).

"Is it okay if I touch you?" he says finally.

And she nods and then laughs, because it's too dark for him to see. "That's fine," she says and if her voice is choked he doesn't say. He just takes her hand, runs his fingers along her palm, kissing her wrist and she blinks back tears at the gentleness of it.

"You know, you're the first person around here I've ever told." That makes her sound like a coward; maybe she is. "Francy just kind of figured it out and I got her to tell Brian. I mean, I talked to him about it, but she's the one who told him. She told Emily too and Emily told Sue. And Charlie. So…yeah. I mean, I've told people. Just not around here."

"You didn't have to tell me."

"You deserved to know." He's too quiet then; it wasn't the truth, anyway. "I wanted you to know. I want—I want this thing with you to be good. I figured I'd get all the bad stuff out of the way at the beginning."

"This thing with me?"

He should not be teasing her just now, he can't be, but he is and Dinah laughs at herself and him. "Right. I keep forgetting I'm supposed to be the mature one. I don't want to keep secrets from you. I can't, if this relationship is going to work."

"It's going to work," he says firmly and squeezes her hand just a little bit.

She believes him.

She doesn't make him stay on the floor after that (though sometimes he does because both of them are over six feet and sometimes they'd really rather sleep; they're comfortable enough together that they can just get some rest when they want it). She can admit to herself now that she wants him on her bed (and everywhere). He looks older than he is, looks old enough that her friends don't question it when she introduces him as her boyfriend from back home without mentioning how old he is, and she wants him. She wants to touch his bronzed skin and kiss the muscles of his chest, wants to feel his thighs under her hands, wants him anyway she can get it. It catches her off-guard sometimes, how much she wants him, wants all of him, but he wants all of her, too, so at least she isn't alone. She does feel dirty and old, for wanting him, sometimes, but mostly she just wishes she could do more for him.

She's always been big on rules in the bedroom, some form of control, but Bert doesn't just like following them, he likes making his own too. She laughs and lets him, hates him a little for not letting her touch him all she wants, but loves him all the more for making her have to work for it, for understanding that everything is better if you've had to work for it.

His eighteenth birthday passes and Levi calls her up and is totally obnoxious as usual. He doesn't get it. No one else gets it besides Bert. It's not about his birthday. It makes her feel better, she won't lie and say it doesn't, but it's not about that. It's taking their time. It's not missing out on all the little things just to get to the big one. She knows they're going to get there (she figured that out along the way). He does too. Somehow, she's never been more sure of anything. They'll get there. They're enjoying themselves in the meantime.

When she goes home for Christmas it's even better than in the summer. They still don't really date, just exist in the same space, but somehow that's better because she doesn't want to have to do anything she just wants him. She just wants Bert, who gets quieter around Christmas because he misses his sister, who wears reindeer ears in her memory so no one can make fun, who spends three days working on a gingerbread palace that he should have known his brothers would eat in five minutes but pouts just the same when they do, who carefully removes the wrapping paper off his gifts and doesn't understand why this is the most annoying habit on the planet. He put too much thought into her gift and she tells him so, but he just asks if she likes it and when she has to say yes he considers the matter closed.

"My parents are going out tonight," he says to her and he can't hide that he's nervous. Were boys always this easy to figure out or has she gotten older or does she just understand him? Probably all three. Dinah just wraps her arms around his neck and smirks: "You want me to come over?"

"It's Christmas time."

And she laughs; he makes her laugh. "I already got you a Christmas present."

"Not like that," he says gruffly. She loves him just then (always, but especially just then), so obviously hating that she could ever think he might remotely think that he is owed _anything_. Sure, he wants everything but he's only ever asked for what she wants to give and that's why she kisses him for a good long while, until he's hard against her and looks almost pained. His voice cracks when he mutters, "But if you wanted to, I'd really like it."

"I'll come over tonight and tell you what I've decided," she says. And she does. She makes him take off his shirt, lets him strip her down. Francy likes racy, lacy scraps of nothing, but Dinah's always thought that was a waste of money. And even in cotton (black, she's not totally immune to wanting to make an impression) she knows she looks good; she looks good in a lot of things, but she wants to look good for him and the way his throat works as he stares at her, unable to say anything at all no matter how much she teases makes her think it was a good idea.

Then she sits down in his lap and asks him, "Do you still want to?" Bert laughs (he chokes on the laughter, but nods quickly after so she understands), but even mostly naked in his lap she can stop him with a glare. She explains, "I want this. But we stop whenever you want."

"I don't ever want to stop if it's with you." But she makes him promise he understands before she lets him do what he's wanted to since she sat down; when she smiles and nods his mouth and hands are suddenly everywhere, touching every bit of skin they can find. His entire body is a little too warm; he smells likes soap and his hair is silky but the rest of his is hard and a little rough. She can't get enough of him, will never get enough of him, and maybe it should scare her but it doesn't.

He's nervous and Bert's never nervous, but she understands that sometimes it's all just too much so she's careful to kiss him until he forgets to be nervous. They've touched enough that he doesn't have to learn her body, he just has to learn how she likes to share it. He will, she knows he will, they have years and years together for her to teach him. He doesn't mind when she bites at his shoulder and she doesn't mind that he is quick to finish because they are together and that's all and everything and perfect.

His parents come home and it's easy to see the difference in their ages then because she really doesn't care what the Calls think of her (and she'll tell them exactly what she thinks of their snipping if they want to compare opinions) and Bert gets a slightly panicky look about him. But he also pushes that down since he's never really been one for panic and she loves that about him, too. They dress and head downstairs. When Levi's awake when she gets home she's glad Bert thought to tell her to shower, though her clean scent must give her away as much as anything. Levi keeps his mouth shut for once in his life, though; he kisses her on the cheek and tells her he loves her. It's the oddest thing, but she's too happy to care.

She's known Bert loves her since they started this and she's pretty sure he knows how she feels back, but it occurs to her one day she hasn't said it out loud, so she makes sure to call him up as soon as she gets home and she tells him. Maybe she should have waited until he was in front of her (he comes up every weekend now, though it's only three months until she's home for good), until she could soften her own carelessness at making him wait so long with kisses and touches, but she needs to speak the words as soon as she can.

"I love you."

"You don't have to say that," is his response and that hurts, of course it hurts, she's not superhuman and it hurts thinking he doesn't get it. But she decided she wasn't going to fight it, so she's going to embrace it. That's who she is.

"I know that. You should know I don't say things I don't mean. I love you. I'm still not willing to sign up for the imprinting fanclub, but I figure if I got you out of the deal it can't be entirely awful."

"Anyone ever tell you how sweet you are, kitten?"

"Shut up."

He laughs and she thinks he finally gets it. He looks happier, at any rate, and she's still a little hurt he _didn't_ know. It was so obvious.

"I love you, too."

Even though she knew, it's still nice hearing him say it.

When he comes up next he pulls her into his arms and whispers it against her neck, again and again, like he can't get enough of saying it. "Were you just waiting for permission?" she demands and his silence is answer enough. "I know everyone says I'm a control freak, but you should know better."

"You are a control freak," he teases. She glares back, but he must have known this was not a teasing matter because his face quickly becomes serious. "I like listening to you. I feel like you listen to me when it's important to me. I don't see a problem."

It's amazing how quickly he can make her feel like everything is okay. She really doesn't trust that feeling. Nothing in life should be this easy, not if it's real and strong and true. It's the difficult things that are worth it.

"So there's absolutely nothing about our relationship" –and there's a fierce sort of joy in her as she says the words that kind of scares her— "that you would change?"

And he blinks, just blinks, only once, and says firmly, "No. There isn't. I mean, I've been thinking we should move in together once you graduate. But that's in the future. And we should probably talk about it first."

"Probably." It's all she manages for a second. "You're eighteen."

"My sister was going to get married at eighteen." His voice always gets rougher when he talks about his sister. Dinah's noticed that and she hates it, but mostly she just wants to kiss him, as if it would make things better.

"She was going to get engaged," Dinah's just being pedantic, "You really—Bert, you know you can do absolutely anything with your life, right? You don't have to do anything you don't want."

"I know," he says gently, for such an awkward boy he is a very gentle man. "There's lots of things I want to do. But I want to do them all with you."

Really, how can she possibly argue with that, when all she can think about—everything she can think about—requires him beside her?

They tumble onto the bed together and he's gentle there, she needs him to be gentle there, but he can be rough and she needs that too. Dinah honestly cannot understand how he manages to be everything she always needed and wanted, but he is and that scares her almost as much as the idea that she might make him lose out on something by needing him.

Still, she can't help it, can't help the way she wants him, needs him, loves him. She can't help the way her legs wrap around him, though she's aware, so aware, of how much she _wants_ when she pulls him into her.

Afterwards, he murmurs against her neck, "You'll always have me. I'm not going anywhere."

There's plans to be made and money to be considered and in the end they end up deciding that they'll share the place with Levi and Kara. Her brother is not thrilled at the idea of living with "you and your boy toy" but it's cheaper and her brother is a jackass but he's also her brother and, anyway, they make a chore wheel.

Their room doesn't have too much space, but they do need a big bed because neither one of them is small and together they take up a lot of room. The good thing about dating a werewolf is that he can pick up a car, if he was so inclined, so it makes more sense for him to carry everything than it does to have her do it.

She unpacks the boxes as he brings them in. The room is big enough but the window's stuck and it's stuffy so she makes him bring up the fan, next. That helps a bit, but she's still sweating from unpacking clothes and pictures and ridiculous knickknacks and he's absolutely dripping because they can't trust Levi to move the couches in all by himself.

"Last one," Bert says as he places her computer on the desk and collapses into the chair. She's just unpacked some of their pictures, the two of them at Christmas, her sister and the army of snow wolves she made two winters ago, and he reaches out and takes the picture of him and his sister and rolls his eyes. It's a terrible picture—he's out of focus and Marlena has her eyes crossed and Dinah had it printed out because she knew how much he loved it. There's dirt and dust on him but when he smiles at her just then she can barely breathe and it just makes sense to sit down on the bed.

She pulls the elastic from her ponytail, laughs at her own unoriginality, and shakes her hair out, lets it tumble over her shoulders. Bert's watching her of course, he always watches her and she smiles at that too. She crooks her finger and he comes to her.

The window is still stuck and the fan still does not do nearly enough, but she doesn't really care. Bert is here, Bert is hers and everything else doesn't matter. She'd thought she looked into an abyss—and she had jumped, had wanted him too much not to jump, and instead of falling found out she could fly.

Afterwards, she kisses him slowly. Their room smells of sweat and sex and there's boxes everywhere, still, and they need to find disinfectant soon, but that doesn't matter yet. Dinah's never felt happier in her life.

"There's something I need to do," she murmurs against his lips. "I'll be right back."

"You need help?"

She finds her clothes quickly. "I'll be back. Take a nap while I'm gone." He's worked hard, today. "I'll wake you up."

Her grin is wolfish and he laughs and closes his eyes.

Levi is already loafing on the couch and he gives her an exaggerated sniff when she walks past. "We're going to make a shower after sex rule," he calls after her and she flips him off. Inside, she makes a promise to herself to do just that.

Dinah Black has probably been called a bitch once a day, at the very least, her entire life because she's tall and loud and opinionated and doesn't have a dick like her brother. Sometimes she's bitchy and sometimes she's kind, sometimes she's brave and sometimes she's scared. Most days she's sure she's right—and most days she is. But sometimes she's wrong and she is not afraid to admit that.

Timmy answers the door, Art directs her to the backyard, and she finds Sam Uley cooking at the barbeque. He looks up when he hears her coming.

Sam was her first crush and she wonders if he knew that. He was a good man, a drunk, a wolf, a father—just a man who was good and bad and everything in between. She loved him and hated him for everything he did and everything he didn't do. But she never understood him; no one could understand him, not until they _knew._

"I'm sorry," she tells him. When it looks like he's confused, she hurries on, "I didn't know. About Aunt Emily. I didn't know. I'm sorry. Sorry for the way I was and everything I said and everything I tried to make your boys think. I'm sorry. And I'm sorry for your loss."

And Sam steps away from the barbeque and puts his hands on her arms and says, "I'm glad to see you so happy."

It is understanding. It is absolution.

Lying in Bert's arms is perfection. Standing with Sam is broken and imperfect and it hurts the way she knows now that being with Bert never will. She has always measured the value of things from their difficulty but now she understands the value of something simple and pure. It may very well leave her like Sam and Will, broken and jagged and always incomplete and _aching_ for what once was, but it is worth it to be this whole, this full of love, it is worth everything and anything for only a moment of _this_, so she will surrender to it just like they did.

Bert is asleep when she returns, dark eyelashes against dark skin and she leans over and gently kisses his forehead, his cheeks, his mouth, his nose, she kisses him until his eyelashes flutter and he looks up at her with love in his eyes. She smiles back at him and it _hurts_, smiling so wide, being so happy.

It hurts just a little, just a bit, just enough that Dinah trusts it after all.


	37. Brian

Brian

* * *

><p>Work was hard (pretending not to be as strong as he was took concentration) but Brian liked it and when it was over he got to come home to his family. His father and Baxter were still at work, but his three youngest brothers would be there. The twins would be sitting around with Ginger, who always managed to make Brian smile. Arthur would be locked in his room, but the four of them together would convince him to join them.<p>

That day, however, Ginger wasn't there. Neither was Arthur. That wasn't completely unusual; one or the other was often off doing there own thing. There were still four people sitting in the kitchen when he got off work. The twins had brought home two friends.

Girl friends.

One was Tim's girlfriend—Stacey, going on four months now, a nice enough girl if maybe too excitable from Brian's tastes. The other girl was sitting almost on Tom's lap—she better be his girlfriend. Brian decided to fix both twins with a glare. They should have known better than to bring girls home when no one else was around.

"Can one of you help me get the barbeque out of the shed?" Brian asked. The twins glanced at each other and then Tim entertained both girls while Tom followed Brian out the backdoor.

"Sorry." At least his brothers knew when they were misbehaving. "We thought Art would be around."

"You seeing her?"

"Kinda, yeah."

"And how long has this been going on?" Abby, Brian remembered, was the name of the other one. He only remembered because Ginger had been complaining about her the other day—impossibly stupid and chipper (Ginger complained about all girls, harsh on her sex because girls tended to be harsh on her; Brian would make his own judgments about Abby).

His baby brother blushed. "Just a little while."

"I'm glad," Brian said and refrained from teasing.

Tom had almost as much bad luck when it came to girls as Arthur did—and Arthur seemed to be cursed (possibly because Ginger scared them all away; Brian had tried talking to her about it, but his imprint just rolled her eyes and ignored him; she did that a lot). But at least Arthur didn't have a twin beside him to compare with all the time.

The twins still looked mostly identical, the same height, the same features; the only difference nowadays was that Tom was significantly thinner. At fifteen, the youngest Uley already wanted to try a marathon, one day. Tim preferred a more well-rounded approach to athletics ("It _hurts _running that much," Timmy panted one day, "I don't get why he likes it so much"). But while the twins looked almost the same…they weren't. Tim was more outgoing, more adventurous and simply less private; Tom opened up to his twin brother and then occasionally allowed Tim to share information, if it was really important. He made getting to know him difficult. Brian was glad someone was up to the challenge.

"Me too." And if there was something in his voice that caught Brian's interest, Tom provided a distraction immediately. "Ester called earlier. She wants you to call her back."

Werewolves tended not to carry cellphones on them just in case they needed to phase (and destroyed the phone in the process).

"Okay. Thanks."

"Brian—" Tom stopped. There was no point in pushing; if he decided not to tell there was nothing Brian could have said to make him. "She sounded upset."

Ester was always calm.

Brian nodded and went to call her—but when he reached her she sounded fine. She needed to cancel their date that night, but that happened occasionally, especially since she worked up at the hospital and sometimes people needed to switch shifts on short notice.

Brian didn't worry.

When Ester didn't call him back for a week...when she finally did call...he realized that had been the wrong reaction.

* * *

><p>"What do you mean, she's pregnant?"<p>

Brian rubbed his forehead yet again and wished the couch would swallow him up. "Pregnant. Gestating. Expecting. Knocked up. Pre—"

"We get it, Brian," Will interrupted, tired of Levi's surprise and Brian's shock. "Ester's pregnant. The more important question is: what is she going to do about it?"

"We're going to the doctor's Tuesday night," Brian said, trying to remember the conversation they'd had earlier in the evening. They'd been sitting at the picnic table in his backyard. Her hands had been on his. She'd been wearing ripped jeans and a shirt they'd gotten when he'd taken her to Seattle for a weekend (to see his sister, to get away and just be with her). And she'd said... "I'm driving her."

His Alpha reached a hand over and placed it on Brian's shoulder. It would be okay. A glance at Will and even the warmth of Levi's hand wasn't quite enough to reassure Brian.

"What is she going to do after that?" Will said quietly.

"I don't know."

Ester had said she'd taken two pregnancy tests, but she wanted to make sure before they discussed any options. "We'll talk about it once we know for sure," she'd said, her voice quiet, her hands shaking just a little bit. "There's no sense in..." And he'd pulled her close because he had no idea what to say if she didn't know.

The silence in Levi's living room was heavy.

"Do you want us to start going over options?" Will offered.

"Or just get you drunk?"

Brian couldn't help the small smile. It would take too much to get him drunk, but for once he almost wanted to try. "I don't know what I want to do."

"You know we'll back you no matter what you decided to do," Levi promised.

"He'll want to marry her," Will said. "Obviously. We're talking to Brian Uley, right?"

"I think I wanted to do that anyway," Brian admitted.

The two cousins glanced at each other, communicating in a way Brian had always been jealous of. Even now, having pack brothers and a twin sister and an imprint, he didn't think he'd ever known anyone the way they knew each other. He wished Ester—

"Brian," Levi said slowly, "I know this is a surprise, but—"

"It's not totally a surprise," he admitted to these men, his friends, his brothers. "Lately, we've been...less than careful."

Brian had been with Ester since he was nineteen. They might not have started out very serious, but it had been almost four years. They were getting to the point where they either had to admit it was going nowhere or—it wasn't nothing. She was too much, he worried, sometimes. The calm he found after a patrol, the normalcy he needed after becoming a wolf, the partner he could talk to when four younger brothers, an alcoholic father and a troubled imprint became too much. At the time it had seemed like he had to get closer, somehow.

Whatever Will was thinking—Brian probably deserved it—he kept it to himself. Levi shrugged. "You get caught up, sometimes."

"_You_ better not," Will snapped.

"You didn't have to get her pregnant to tell her," Levi said. For a man who could ignore everything in front of his face for as long as he wanted to, Levi was surprisingly perceptive when he needed to be.

"But if that's what makes this easier for you..." Will managed to choke out.

Levi finished the sentence for Will, for the pack: "We hope she says yes."

* * *

><p>They were having a baby.<p>

Ester's hand was cold in his as they walked away from the hospital and down the street to where they had parked the car. This was really happening. He'd kissed her, when they'd found out, chapped lips against a cold cheek, and she'd smiled and curled into him as they listened to the doctor, but now they were outside, now they were alone, she stood as far away from him as their clasped hands would allow.

When they passed a convenience store, she said, "Can you get me some water?"

He nodded; she was already walking towards the car. They both needed moment. .

Ester was pregnant. They were going to be parents. Maybe. If—maybe. Brian didn't know. He had just turned twenty-three, though he looked older and he was immortal for now. Ester wasn't. Even before he'd been considering stopping, wanting more than to watch wrinkles form on her face, but now... it would depend on what happened shortly, he guessed.

He unscrewed the cap off the bottle of water and handed it over; after a few swallows she managed to give him a small smile. She was leaning against the car; he leaned against it too and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"It'll be okay," he promised.

She kissed him, but he wasn't sure she believed him.

Brian left her holding the water bottle and pulled out the other item he had bought in the store. He didn't often buy candy, especially candy he didn't like, but Ester liked green apple and it had just seemed...appropriate. One quick pull and he opened the package, fingers deftly pushing the ring pop out.

"This isn't how I expected this to go," he admitted, holding out the ring to her. "Ester, I don't know what I'd do without you. You make me happy; you make me sane. You are the best woman I know and you're the only woman I want to be with. I love you so much. I know this isn't—this looks like—I've wanted to ask you this for a while. I'm sorry it took so long for me to work up the guts. Please marry me?"

Her brown eyes were wet, her lashes fluttering so she could see passed the tears. Her hands reached out slowly for the ring and as she sniffled, she looked at the candy. "I always loved these things," she said. "I really appreciate you saying all that."

He waited until she licked the candy, using the sugar to steady herself.

"I just—I think there's a few things I need to know before I say yes. Right?"

It wasn't like her to sound unsure. Everything today was keeping them off balance and they could no longer hold on to each other to make up for it.

He took a deep breath and began to tell her.

* * *

><p>Francy was sitting on the steps when he came home. Despite the day he'd had—his girlfriend was pregnant; his girlfriend now knew all about the secrets of La Push, the werewolves and the vampires and the chance that it could happen to their children—Brian managed a smile when he saw his twin waiting for him.<p>

If his pack brothers would stay by him no matter what, Brian knew his sister would be there to make sure at the end of the day Brian could look at himself in the mirror and feel like he knew the man looking back at him.

"Come here," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. He buried his head in her hair, held her close, finding comfort in the way only she could provide, his twin who was as much him as he was. Then he exhaled, let the unsettling sickness that had been rolling around in his stomach all day leave him now that he was safe in his sister's arms.

"Who told you?"

"Everyone," she said. "I take it this is happening?"

"Yeah." Brian laughed as he pulled away. "It's real. Really real. Really inescapably real."

His sister pulled him down onto the steps of their house. They'd have to go in eventually. The kids wouldn't know, but Baxter would. That was what being in a pack was all about. Baxter would know and Baxter would disapprove. Not just because Baxter would never, ever, ever be careless when it came to his girlfriend, their future, or _anything,_ but because his brother would not understand why he hadn't already fixed everything.

She had asked for time. It was the least Brian could do, after everything. He would give her that even if he did want to storm over to her house and demand an answer.

"You want to tell me where you're at or do you just want to wallow?" Francy asked quietly.

"Ester needs time to think it over; she said she'll call when she's ready to talk to me. I told her about us."

"About..." Francy was always cautious.

"That I'm a werewolf. That the cold ones are real. That all the stories are real. That if we have a son—" It was fun, more often than not, but it was also dangerous. And a sacrifice. Ester shouldn't make that unless she understood. "She kind of went into shock."

"It's a lot to take in," his sister reminded him. "But I doubt she was as shocked as you think. None of you are as subtle as you should be. Levi—I'm sure Levi's hinted more than he should. She would have known, even if she didn't believe. It was probably just all the stuff piling up on top of her. I'm sure she'll come around."

"Maybe."

"Brian..."

"I told her about Ginger." Ginger was his imprint; she'd always gotten along with Ester but that was before he'd told Ester that Ginger was 'the center of his universe.'

"You did?"

His sister sounded much less reassuring.

"I had to."

"Speaking of Ginger..." Francy said.

"What's wrong with you?"

Brian glanced up to find Ginger looking down at him. His imprint, his beautiful, wonderful, sixteen year old imprint had her hands on her hips, scowling like she only cared that he was in her way up the stairs. A few years ago, when Ginger first moved to La Push, Brian might have believed it. Now, he could see the faint hint of worry in her eye.

Despite the skirt that really was more of a belt and the shirt didn't cover her belly button piercing and enough make up that he didn't understand how it didn't fall off her face from the weight of it, Ginger was still his shinning girl. Even if she didn't have quite the sparkle she usually did.

"I'm fine. What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing." The look she gave him—Brian, you are such a dumbass—was supposed to reinforce this fact. Brian was used to that look from her.

"The twins were going to Bert's to play basketball."

"I'm looking for Art."

It wasn't surprising. Ginger and Arthur were best friends, so close that Brian might have joked they were soul mates if he hadn't had cosmic proof that Ginger was _his_ soul mate.

"He's inside. He didn't tell me you were coming over."

"I don't have to tell you everywhere I go," Ginger snapped, stomping up the stairs in her too big boots.

"Borrow someone's sweat pants," Brian called after her. He just got laughed at in response. "What am I going to do with that girl?"

"Will mentioned something about reform school." Not that Will would—Ginger and Bert were good friends and Will always let Bert get his way (probably always would). "What exactly did you tell Ester about Ginger?"

"That she was my imprint."

"I've been Levi's imprint for years and I still don't know what that means."

It meant that for once Levi would hold his tongue even though—well, Francy was very lucky she was Levi's imprint because he wouldn't have been as patient with anyone else on the planet.

"Yeah, me neither." It meant Ginger was the first one he thought of when he woke up and the last one he thought of when he went to sleep. But she wasn't the one he wanted right then.

"Maybe it's a good thing Ester's taking some time, then," Francy said. "It'll give you time to figure out where you stand with Ginger. You can't raise a child with someone if you're eventually going to leave her for Ginger Walker one day. That's not fair to anyone."

"I know." It was a good idea, actually. "We should go inside. I don't want to tell Dad until...I'm not going to tell him if she's not keeping it."

She squeezed his hand and tugged him to his feet. "I'll be here for as long as you need."

"I'm probably going to spend most of tonight trying to outrun my feelings," he explained. It worked for Levi; it wasn't a bad solution, all in all. "You can take my room."

"It's fine," his sister said too easily. "I've got a place to stay."

Since his own love life was confusing enough as it was, Brian did not say anything. Even if—it wasn't his business.

* * *

><p>There were very few days when Brian didn't go to work. He liked his job; he didn't get too many days off; he needed the money for his family. But he figured finding out his girlfriend was pregnant was a good a reason to take a day off. If she kept it, he'd need to go to appointments with her. If she didn't...well, there would still an appointment, at least.<p>

It had been a long while since he had woken up so late, longer since he had woken up so late without Ester curled beside him. While he still lived with his father it had become, over time, accepted that some nights Ester would stay over. Brian would wake up to find her pressed against his side and he'd kiss her gently, careful not to wake her, so he could slip out of bed and off to work.

Sam was in the kitchen when Brian made his way out of his room, eating breakfast with Art. His middle brother didn't look up from his cereal.

"Where are the twins?" Both men at the table shot him a look. Running, then.

The kids had been running together since Ginger moved to La Push. Tom took it the most seriously, but Ginger hated losing; poor Tim only went some days, to keep in shape. They'd run the first three miles together (Ginger tactfully called it a warm-up), then Timmy would get dropped off.

Tim saw Brian when he came in, waved, and headed to the shower so he would be finished by the time his brother got back. Before he left for work, Sam asked, "Is everything all right?"

"Just needed a day off. Figured someone had to paint the shed." His father could still make him feel like a kid with a look. "I'll look after these terrors for you."

Art snorted. In his last year of high school, Arthur knew how to take care of himself. Aside from the tattoo incident—which was really more Levi's fault, the Uley brothers had decided to spare their unrepentant brother from their father's wrath—the kid avoided trouble easily. Ginger attracted it all to her, instead.

"Ginger said there was something up with you," Art said after their dad left.

"I want to talk to you," Brian admitted. When Tim came in, he added, "I want to talk to all three of you."

"Bax sounded prissy when he said you were staying home today," Tim mentioned. "Where's the blueberry jam?"

The importance of chewing soon brought silence to the table again. For a little while. Eventually, there was the thundering of footsteps and what sounded like lightning hitting the front door. Art rolled his eyes (maybe at Brian's surprise?) and went back to his food like nothing was happening.

"Tom!" Tim shouted. "Hopefully, he heard that. You can catch him, if he didn't."

"What the hell was that?"

"They race to the door. Winner gets—I don't think they know, really. Bragging rights," Timmy explained.

"What about the door?" Brian asked.

"They haven't broken it yet," Art said blithely.

"We're not going to break the door," Tom said, running on the spot. Brian knew he ran more than Ginger, but he hadn't realized that he dropped Ginger off _here_ before he kept going. Well, if Sam didn't mind...Brian smiled, thinking about how his father struggled to accept Ginger in what little ways he could. "What did you want?"

"Brian wants," Tim explained.

"Is she okay?" Brian asked.

"Gin? She's fine." Tom glanced at the clock. "Will I have time to go back out?"

"Ginger showers here?"

"She wears your clothes back home and then brings them over in a bunch when they pile up too much," Tim explained, as Tom sat down and started eating his brother's food. "You never wondered where all your clothes went?"

Not really.

"So, Ester—" Brian didn't really want to go on.

"Francy came home. Baxter's disappointed in you. Ester's upset. Dolly saw you guys at the hospital..." Timmy trailed off. "We've talking about it and we figure one of you's really sick or she's pregnant. So which door is it?"

Even though his little brothers had been, well, little, when their mother got sick and went to the hospital and never came out, Brian could see pretty clearly on their faces what they were hoping for.

"Door 2."

The relief on their faces hurt, brought back too many memories of when there hadn't been any relief.

Arthur put down the paper. "You okay?"

"I don't know."

"What can we do?" Tim said. Asked. Offered. It was just a fact of life, that they'd be there too.

"It's fine, guys." It was habit. But they were growing into men. Soon they would be. Too soon, maybe. "Ginger ever talk about me to you guys?"

"Like, does she tell us you're the love of her life and she's going to run off and marry you and have a bazillion children who will never meet their really annoying uncles?" Tom shrugged. "Maybe once or twice a day."

"Especially when we run," Timmy said, explaining why the details were so fresh in his brother's mind. "She thinks you're the greatest, Brian. And she definitely thinks you told her the two of you are meant to be together."

"She can tell there's something wrong with you," Art added. In the bathroom, Brian could hear the water running and the quiet humming Ginger was making (interspersed with her panting, as she tried to catch her breath).

"I need to talk to her." He needed to do a lot of things.

"You going to move out if—" Tom punched him, but Tim kept going, "Are you still going to be living here if Ester, you know?"

"I'm worrying about one thing at a time," Brian told his brothers. "Thanks, guys."

They nodded. Arthur had clothes on the chair beside him; Brian had wrongly assumed they were for him. Instead, Art got up to bring them to the bathroom.

"If it matters—" Tim shut up when Ginger came prancing into the kitchen, still on an adrenaline high and definitely wearing Brian's clothes. Her face lit right up when she saw Brian at the table, though she tried to pretend it hadn't. Instead, she shook her wet hair over Tom, saying, "I think you're out of hot water."

Brian's brother _better _have pulled the punch he gave her in return as he left for the bathroom; it just made Ginger laugh as she threw herself into the chair beside Brian, her wet hair soaking his favourite shirt. "I didn't know you were here."

"Just eating breakfast. Aren't you going to be late for school?"

"Not like we do anything at school ever."

"Humour me," he begged. Ginger rolled her eyes and snatched his toast, but turned to leave. "I get ready in half the time it takes that diva."

Ginger took off; Tim explained: "I really do need more time; I don't know how she does it."

"You were about to say something before," Brian reminded his brother.

Timmy checked that the door was closed behind Ginger before he said, "If you asked her, I'm pretty sure she'd tell you she was in love with you."

Brian was getting a headache.

* * *

><p>Ester wouldn't answer her phone and when Brian went over to see her, her sister told him she wasn't seeing anyone just then. When he went back later, her mother said the same thing. She was digesting. He knew Ester well enough to know that when she figured it out she'd tell him right away. Bugging her wasn't going to help. She just needed to go over everything in her own mind. It might take her awhile—so long, it felt—but she'd talk to him as soon as she could.<p>

Without her, though, Brian was alone with his thoughts.

He'd always wanted children. Like most kids in a large family, he'd known for a long time his stance on family. He'd wanted kids. Maybe not quite as many as his parents had had—six was maybe two too many—but he'd wanted kids. He'd grown up surrounded by children and he loved them and their joy and their tiny hands that got into so much trouble. The twins had one day explained they felt the opposite; neither was sure they would ever want to have kids (Brian promised them they'd change their minds, but all that had gotten him was an eye roll from Tom and Tim's assurance, "if we do have kids, they're going to be only children"). Big families did that. You knew what you wanted.

He went over to the Lahote place and let his pack brother talk numbers the way he loved. With Ester's job and his, they could afford it. Maybe not comfortably, maybe not easily, but better than some. He'd have to leave his brothers, but his sister told him not to worry about them: "They have Baxter and anyway the twins are fifteen. As long as you watch to make sure Dad doesn't have another rough patch, they'll be okay." Will even mentioned a place that, maybe, might work. If he wanted.

What did he want?

Brian wanted this child. It was his child—he was a werewolf. Pack before sense was practically the motto of his species. He had to protect his child, unborn though it may be. That wasn't enough. He was still human enough to know it wasn't enough. _His_ was not enough reason to build a life together.

They'd been careless for a reason. When he looked at her he felt calm, the way a werewolf rarely felt. He felt home, the way he often didn't in a house that was overflowing with all sorts of people at all sorts of time. He loved her and he'd wanted the excuse to tell her, tell her the truths about him that she might not be ready for (how could you ever be _ready_ to hear your boyfriend turned into a wolf? No matter how much you loved him?). He wanted her to know because he loved her.

He wanted a life with her. A life that included children and a house and maybe the heritage that was scaring her away from him even as he wandered through La Push desperate to talk to her. He wanted that, and he wanted it with Ester. He had to trust that she knew it already, that he'd told her without words in the time they'd had together before.

Wandering La Push, he met the Black sisters. Judy was trying not to show how excited she was, though she hugged him so tightly she might have cracked a rib. Dinah raised her eyebrows; Dinah knew Francy was home, knew something was up, but she didn't hug him. Dinah wasn't a hugging sort of person. Not really.

"I always thought you were one of the best men I ever knew," Dinah said instead, quietly, a message between old friends. "And you know I'm never wrong."

It was a threat and a promise and prediction—Brian would do the right thing, whatever it was.

* * *

><p>After school, Brian went to see Ginger.<p>

Her mother wasn't home. Ginger's mother was never home, always off with her latest boyfriend. Ginger used her house to keep her clothes (apparently, she didn't even shower there), and as a place to bring the older boys that Brian tried to explain to her were a bad idea. Ginger liked boys. Boys liked Ginger. Brian wanted better for her than her mother's life even though she didn't seem to understand that.

Ginger was changing in her room (he could hear the sound of fabric), when he knocked on the door. She'd given him a key, a few years ago, in case something went wrong. But he liked knocking, giving her the choice to let him in or not.

"Oh," she said as the door opened, "It's you."

"It's good to see you too," Brian said, hurt by her dismissal. Her skirt was even shorter than normal, though he hadn't thought that was possible. "Were you expecting someone else?"

"Did you really break up with Cookie?" It wasn't a new thing, for her to pretend she wasn't listening to him.

"Things are complicated right now, between us. I—" For all that she was still in high school and he wanted to protect her, Brian didn't want to lie to her either. Couldn't lie to her. "I hope we haven't broken up."

"She could do better than you." The words were cruel but her voice was soft, her toe absently kicking at her other foot as she awkwardly stood before him. She growing into a lovely young woman, his imprint, for all that she tried to hide it, bright eyes with sharp features. All the running helped, too, and Levi took her boxing sometimes, so she had bigger muscles than a girl her age should. But she liked them. It always made her smile when she flexed.

"I think she's starting to realize that. How's school?"

"I didn't skip." She often did, though it was hard to catch her at it. But she did her work (probably with Art's help, but no one could prove it) and she was passing. "And I barely have any homework tonight."

"But you're going out?"

"Joe's taking me for a ride."

Brian bet he was. As a cop, Levi had made sure some of his former friends stayed far away from La Push (or was that down to Will's...charm? Brian didn't ask). They couldn't get rid of all of them, though, just the ones who were criminals, not the ones who were creeps.

"He's too old for you."

"Oh, please."

"He's older than I am."

"So? I can go out with whoever I want."

"No, you can't. If you think for a second I'm going to let you—"

"Stop picking on me because your girlfriend dumped you."

"I'm not picking on you," Brian said through gritted teeth. Ginger wasn't happy unless things were escalating quickly. "I'm trying to look out for you."

"I didn't ask you too."

"I know," he said softly. Ginger was never as mad as she sounded. "I want to, remember?"

"Oh."

Ginger fiddled with the braid lying on her shoulder, then came towards him. There really was no excuse—Brian had supernatural reflexes. But his mind could not accept, would not accept, that she was really standing up on her toes, really pressing her lips to his. It wasn't until her lips were on him that he managed to start moving.

With hands as large as her head, it was easy enough to push her back.

Keeping the horror off his face was a little trickier.

"What do you think you're doing?" he demanded. Her lips disappeared into a thin line. Her eyes began to fill with tears. "Ginger, that was totally inappropriate. That was—"

"Let go of me!" she shrieked. She almost broke her toe kicking his shin; she wretched out of his grasp before he could properly release her so she'd probably have bruises on her arm too. "Get out! Get out! I never wanted you to come here!"

She slammed her bedroom door for emphasis.

Brian had let this go on for far too long. He hadn't known how to handle her, his abrasive and loud, independent, vibrant imprint who was used to taking care of herself. She flirted with boys who were too old for her, took up with men who were bad for her, and barely accepted his presence in her life. And he had accepted that. And he shouldn't have.

There was a time, when he first imprinted, when the only experience he had with imprinting was his parents and the love they had, when he had expected that one day—maybe not when she was sixteen, but one day—he and Ginger would find that connection that so many imprinted couples seemed to share. Now, still able to feel her lips on his, Brian knew he was an idiot. And if he hadn't understood, how was his hurt little girl supposed to understand?

Ginger had left phone on the counter, to be picked up as she walked out the door. It was easy enough to find Ester's number—under 'Cookie Monster.'

Ester picked up and sounded tired.

"I know you don't want to hear from me right now," he admitted. "But I need your help with Ginger."

"Is she all right?"

Love swelled in Brian's heart, though it was heavy with worry. "Someone told her we broke up. She—she kissed me. Now she's locked herself in her room and I don't think she ever wants to talk to me again."

The crying was tearing at his heart. Brian would have gladly cut off his hand to never hear her cry.

"Okay," Ester said softly. "I'll be there soon."

Their greeting was awkward. Ester looked more beautiful than usual, though Brian didn't dare tell her. Even in jeans and a t-shirt, he couldn't stop wanting to touch her. And her hair, thick and shiny, was loose the way it so rarely was. He longed to press it down, kiss the top of her head. He moved out of her way instead.

"Should I just leave?" he asked her. Ester took her time thinking it over; she was never in any rush to prove she was clever, just came up with an answer that worked eventually.

"You can stay." It felt like permission for much more than it was. "Just stay out here."

"I didn't—" Even if she never wanted to see him again, she needed to know this. "I didn't think I was encouraging her. I didn't kiss her back, I never—"

Ester took pity on him. "Brian, I know. Just go on the couch, okay?"

Brian made his way to the couch, watching as Ester knocked on the door. In the other room, Ginger was still crying, though less than before. Ester looked tired, drawn, wan, though he didn't know if the pregnancy was already effecting her or if she was just tired.

"Knock, knock." When Ester received no answer she sighed. "You're supposed to say who's there."

"Go away!"

"Go away who?"

"You're so lame," Ginger sputtered, door opening suddenly. "You look like shit."

"You have mascara on your nose."

That was enough to set Ginger off on another round of tears, flopping down on her bed. Ester gave him a look—time together let him know she was telling him to stay—and then disappeared into Ginger's room too.

"Kissing Brian doesn't make me cry," Ester said eventually. "Usually."

Ginger managed to stop being quite so loud as she cried. "You guys really break up?"

"We're...taking a break. It doesn't mean I want him kissing anyone else."

"At least someone's jealous. You gonna fight me?" In a fight, Ginger would have beaten every woman in La Push (Dinah Black excepted). Levi really shouldn't have started her boxing. "'Cuz, today, Cookie, I think you might win."

"Don't be a dumbass, Ginger. Of course, I'd win. I'm in love with him."

"So what's with the breaking up?" Ginger asked, shifting on the bed. Making room for Ester—it sounded like she was sitting down.

"You going to tell me why you did it?"

Ginger shuffled around some more. "He just looked so sad. You're not—you guys are getting back together, right, Cookie Momster?"

"I don't know," Ester said softly. "Not if he's going around kissing other girls."

"I totally freaked him out."

"Maybe you should apologize for that?"

"He should apologize to you. But he won't," Ginger said, furiously. "He's such an idiot, I bet he didn't even notice—boys are just stupid!"

"Oh, Ginger." It sounded like Ester was rubbing Ginger's back. "It'll be okay. I'm sure it will. You just have to talk to people instead of doing stupid things all the time."

Ginger started sniffling again. Brain almost got off the couch and broke down the door to be by her side. Almost. Ester had this; Ester seemed to know more than he did.

"Brian told me you were his imprint?"

"You know about that?"

"A few days ago."

"You're not allowed to tell. Not unless Levi Black wants in your pants. Pack. Imprints. Family. Holy shit, Cookie, did he propose? No way he's that smart."

"Is this imprinting thing…is that why you kissed him?"

"No," Ginger insisted quickly. "Nah, shit, I was just—I'm just a fucking slut, you know?"

"No, you're not." Dinah would have been proud at the firmness in Ester's voice; Brian was. "Sweetie, you're not."

"Yes, I am."

"You just have a strange way of showing affection to the people you really care about. That's all. But the people who really love you know that. Ginger, they'd never call you a slut."

"They thinkit, then."

"They?"

"I don't want to talk about it!"

"And by any chance did this mysterious 'they' have a girlfriend that you maybe called all sorts of names?" Ester sighed. "Defending her doesn't mean he thinks you're a slut, Ginger. It just means you should be a little nicer to the people your friends are dating."

"She doesn't put out! Why the fuck is he dating that stupid bitch if she's not even going to—"

"Ginger!"

"What?" his imprint sulked.

"Can you hear yourself when you talk? You're being a terrible friend."

"She never shuts up," Ginger muttered.

"Worse than Timmy?"

"No one's worse than Timmy," she grumbled.

"But you manage to get along with him."

"Only 'cuz Brian would be sad if I didn't. And he's not totally stupid like—stupid head"

"Tell me the story of how Tim got that scar on his hand."

Ginger grew silent. The twins and Ginger had been in a fight (on the same side, for once) against some guy that Brian had always thought had been a little too interested in his beautiful imprint.

"Ginger, you did just kiss my boyfriend."

"You guys are on a break," Ginger muttered. Then, slowly, "Tim was defending…obviously. The twins are stupid for each other; he didn't need to. Tom could have—he sure as shit wasn't trying to stop the fight, whatever he told Baxter. You should have seen Ralph's face when Tom said—he earned that black eye." Ginger cackled at the memory. "The three of us kicked ass, that night. Well, I guess you know. Timmy wouldn't shut up about it for months."

"Do you think they would have done that for someone they didn't care about? He doesn't think you're a slut, Ginger. So don't call yourself names. And don't kiss Brian."

"Sorry." Ginger wiped her nose. "I can't believe he told you about the wolf stuff. He phase for you? He looks really cool as a wolf."

"Not yet."

"You're missing out. Get Levi to phase for you, too. I'm mean, they're all pretty big. Even Judy's huge and she's like a midget wolf, Levi says. But Levi's fucking ginormoramic. He's like a landscape he's so big."

"That sounds scary."

"They're on our side." Ginger was laughing. "Something bad out there, it better not come near us."

"You're trying to distract me," Ester decided.

"You're trying not to talk about the wolves." Ginger moved around the bed. "You scared, Cookie? 'Cuz Brian wouldn't hurt you."

"I'm not worried about that." And even though she perhaps should be, even if it would have been safer for her if she did worry about that, Brian couldn't keep the smile off his face. "I just...it's a lot to deal with."

"It's awesome, that's what it is. You guys are so the cooler tribe," Ginger insisted.

"Brian only told me because I'm pregnant."

"What?"

"I'm pregnant. That's why he told me."

"Brian didn't only tell you because you're pregnant," Ginger said. "He doesn't have to tell you if you're pregnant. Will made Levi write down the list of who you had to tell and who you couldn't tell and all that; Levi kept changing his mind, you know. So there's a list. And there's nothing on it about telling pregnant chicks. I was his imprint and he took his time telling me—and they pretty much have to tell their imprints. You know what you're problem is, E? You got the wolf stuff from Brian. He makes it sound like duty, honour, blah, blah, boring shit and then fangs, claws, oh so terrible, look how we suffer. You need to talk to Levi or Judy. Or Bert; he'll tell you the funny stories that the others kind of don't want you to know about the 'Great Protectors of La Push.' Hell, Timmy is great at this stuff, even if he's just making it up. Talk to them. You won't be all gloomy and depressed about it then."

"Yeah?"

"Promise. It's really cool, Cookie."

"Do you have any stories to tell me?"

It was all the time she spent with Tim, Brian decided. Ginger was becoming an excellent storyteller.

* * *

><p>Ester stayed with Ginger a long time, talking about school, talking about clothes, talking about boys, talking about the stories that weren't stories at all. Brian could have listened to the two of them talk all day. When Ginger wasn't crying, when they laughed together, he couldn't help smiling along.<p>

"That's creepy," Ginger said as she came out of her room eventually. "Have you just been lurking there this whole time?"

"I needed to make sure you were all right," he reminded her.

Ginger played with her hair. "I'm fucking fantastic. Sorry. Fantastic. And sorry about the whole—don't just barge in here looking pathetic, next time, okay?"

"Okay." Brian stood up and hugged her, glad she surrendered to his arms.

"Hey, congrats."

Brian glanced towards the doorway, where Ester was leaning against the frame. There was a smile on her face; he felt himself return it.

"Thank you, Ginger. But you can't go around telling people just yet, okay? Promise?"

"Whatever."

So Ginger promised and Ester took his hand and they began to walk home hand in hand.

"I do love you," Ester said as they stood at the foot of her porch.

"I know. Whatever you decide, I've known that from the beginning. And know I love you."

"I know. I'm going to see if Ginger's right, if talking to Levi and the others will make the whole thing...cooler? Was that what she said?"

"Maybe too cool." Brian took a deep breath. "Will thinks that if you moved off the land, our children might not be affected. That's another option."

"You want to move?"

"I want to do this with you," he told her from the bottom of his heart. He held her closed, breathed in the scent of her, kissed her hair. "There's no one else I'd rather..."

"If I do this, it was always going to be with you," she whispered against his neck. "Brian, what if we can't do this? What if we mess this kid up?"

"I really don't think you could," he promised. "But I'm biased. Very biased. Ginger was right—talk to the others. You have time. I'll be here when you've figured it out."

"Hopefully, not right here," she said with a small smile.

"I will get off your porch while you think."

* * *

><p>Two days later, Ester showed up at his house with a half eaten ring pop.<p>

"You ate my ring?" he asked. But a smile was pulling at his cheeks.

"It was helping me think," she protested. "So I've decided that...despite the fact my boss is going to kill me...I really do want to do this with you. Even though I don't want you to do this just so I will. Just so we're clear."

"I want to marry you. And I want to have children with you. And doing both at once might be a little overwhelming and not the best planning I've ever done," Brian admitted, "But both things are definitely what I want."

"Okay. Ask me again, then."

"Are you sure?"

Ester just smiled up at him, so Brian kissed her first, long and slow. Then he asked her.

* * *

><p>They pulled off the wedding in less than a month. Ester had her sister stand up with her and Brian had Arthur (Francy didn't like the aesthetic of it being three women and Baxter had demurred, saying they looked too much the same, though Bert made it sound he was just embarrassed, being so close to the girl who took his virginity at his brother's wedding). Arthur complained about being his third choice, but went a little power mad during the whole thing, bossing everyone around so they were all perfectly on time.<p>

As Brian surveyed his friends and family laughing together, he made a mental note to give Arthur a new guitar or bass or whatever it was his younger brother needed.

Baxter and Judy were dancing together in the impromptu dance space. Their wedding would be much more lavish; Jacob Black would want the best for his little girl. It would be soon, Brian thought. Art would move out soon and the twins would be sixteen and Baxter had been waiting patiently for a long time now. It would definitely be a big wedding, fit for the daughter of their Chiefs. Dinah wouldn't settle for anything more than exactly what she wanted at her wedding, if Bert ever decided to ask her, but Judy would let her Daddy spoil her rotten.

"Brian!" Arthur clapped his hands in his brother's face, an image of impatience. "Go find the twins. Dad wants all of us around for his next big speech."

"This is my wedding."

"Which is why I spent the last half hour tracking down pineapple and gummy bears for your wife." Arthur glared. "I have no idea where the twins went. Please?"

Brian grinned and promised to go find their brothers.

The twins had been with Ginger the last time he saw them, so Brian headed for the back exit. The three of them would stick together. The boys hadn't brought dates. Stacey broke up with Tim; Tom broke up with Abby so the twins would match and that was that as far as they were concerned. Ginger had talked about bringing someone ("so you don't think I'm going to kiss you again," she teased him), but had decided against it in the end. Brian liked to think she was thinking of the rest of them. Ginger and dates usually required drama.

Without one, she had to settle for watching Tim manufacture his own drama. He was in the middle of the alley, in the middle of a soliloquy, too, it sounded like, his own one man production, waving his jacket around in the air to simulate a cape, then an explosion, then a funeral shroud.

Balancing precariously on a garbage can, Ginger cheered Tim on while his brother made sure she didn't unbalance their perch despite the way she was clapping. Brian's imprint had looked almost like a woman tonight, in a well-fitted dress that Francy had picked out (his sister's taste had gotten more conservative as the years passed; Brian approved, even if it had gotten more expensive). Ginger had been grateful—and had let Francy pin her hair up and do her makeup. The effect had been startling, more of Ginger as she would be than how Brian thought she was. She was growing up so fast.

Now Ginger was covered by a man's blazer, her shoes on Tom' lap, hair coming out of the pins; she was the most adorable thing Brian had seen all night. It was getting late; her own cheering was exhausting her and after she yawned she rested her head on Tom's shoulder.

"Bet you can't hit me," Tim dared his brother.

"I like those shoes," Ginger murmured and waved her hand absently in their direction. Ginger was going to be a tall woman; she was almost as tall as the twins, though the boys definitely had at least one more growth spurt in them (Art had hit six feet the last few months). But she liked wearing dangerous looking shoes.

"Ten points if I get you in the face?" Tom asked.

"Dad wants us," Brian called. "You guys wanna come in?"

They came quickly, rousing themselves at the thought of more cake. They were still so very young. Ginger kissed his cheek as she passed (she'd been doing that all day—she'd also been saying, "About fucking time," until Francy had gotten her to stop). Tom remembered to tuck his dress shirt back in, but Ginger wasn't giving back the jacket and there was nothing she could do about her hair. Tim was a disaster from his show and he was the slowest at making himself presentable.

"Hey, Brian?"

"Yeah?" Timmy waved his brother and Ginger onward, though it took them all a minute to agree and then confirm the rendezvous point. Eventually, though Tim turned to his older brother.

"So I was talking to Art the other day about Ginger being in love with you and marrying you and all that," his younger brother said as they went back inside.

"She just gets confused about me, sometimes."

"I don't think so," Tim said, giving an apologetic little bop. "See, I was talking to Art and he said she never brings up any of that soul mates stuff when it's just the two of them. He said when she talks about you to him, she's always just complaining about all the stupid rules you make her follow. It's never about how she wants to marry you or anything.

"But when I talked to Tom about it, he could definitely remember how she mentioned all this specific stuff about the two of you running away together and drinking mimosas in the sun and all that. I remembered a lot of that stuff too so I thought about it really hard and I realized something. She only wants to marry you when we're on a run."

"Okay..."

The next thing Timmy said was so quietly even the werewolves in the hall couldn't hear.

"She almost kissed me, too, once,"

"What?"

"I've got better reflexes than you, though," Tim bragged. When his older brother glared, he looked sheepish. "I bet you Bax would have reacted the same way as you. Not that she would try with him because she kind of doesn't like him much. Also, she really likes Judy. She doesn't understand why she likes Judy so much, but—"

Timmy was a born actor. Or a supervillian. He could have monologued for the rest of the night. Since Brian couldn't provide him with a drum roll he gave him a cue: "And why is Ginger working her way through us?"

"You say through. I'd say...down."

Tim grinned at his oldest brother, before heading off to find his twin. Tom and Ginger had positioned themselves by the desert table; he was shadow boxing and she was correcting his form. Hopefully they wouldn't hit someone for real.

Brian could feel Levi creeping up beside him. "Did you understand that?"

Levi's laughter boomed through the room though no one looked over. Their alpha had been in a good mood all day; he always was, when his pack was happy.

"When the hot girl likes your brother, you brag," he explained with a grin. "You're sister looks good tonight."

"Levi."

Levi laughed again, softer this time. "She doesn't like me interfering in her life."

"She doesn't like anyone interfering."

"I'm going to interfere," Levi said. "I'm sick of their just friends bullshit."

As her twin brother, Brian felt it was his duty to say, "It's not your business," even though Levi wasn't totally wrong in his assessment of the situation.

Levi shrugged. "Still not going to stop me."

* * *

><p>Ester was in labour for what seemed like forever ("this is normal," Dr Cullen promised, "I've done this plenty of times. Don't worry") and by the end she looked exhausted. Not even like in the movies, where there was a glow of happiness underneath the fake sweat and makeup. There was just a weariness and a relief that it was finally over.<p>

Brian stayed with her as Seth cleaned their daughter. At first, Ester had wanted to go to the hospital. But when she found out she could get a world renewed OBGYN to come to her house, well, she had agreed home delivery didn't sound so bad. Brian gently tightened the ponytail that was mostly undone at this point, knowing she would want to try to keep her hair off her face. It was also an excuse to move his arm. Afraid he would crush her hand if she started squeezing his, he had let her cling to his forearm instead. The bruises were fading, but it still ached.

"You were amazing," Brian told her.

"I am disgusting," she corrected. "I shouldn't have let you stay."

"You wouldn't have been able to get me to leave," Brian reminded her.

They were quiet, then; Nessie explained she was going to clean up. More importantly, Seth was coming towards them, bundle wrapped in his arms.

"Ready to say hello?"

He didn't have to ask twice.

Brian had imprinted when he was eighteen, looked at Ginger Walker and known that his life would be nothing without her in it. He'd never been warned that it could happen again, that looking at his little girl, with big brown eyes and wide month, her well-developed lungs announcing her arrival to the world, he would feel the world shifting yet again.

With Ester, it had happened so gradually he hadn't even known everything was changing until one day he glanced up and everything was different. With his daughter, Brian knew, right then, that he would die for her, live for her, that she was his world.

"Everyone outside is clamouring to come in," Nessie said quietly. Brian had always felt a little awkward around her, but now, as she smiled at him, Seth standing behind her, arms wrapped around her, he decided she was a friend. "We'll hold them off as long as you want. If you wanted to see some of them, I recommend we stagger everyone. I don't want too many people in here at a time. It'll be too rowdy. Maybe two at a time?"

No one celebrated like a werewolf.

"Who do you want to see?" Brian asked his wife.

"Ruth," Ester blurted out immediately. "I want my sister. And ask...ask Ginger to come."

Nessie nodded and Seth went to fetch the girls. There was cheering in the other room—the party had already started—but Brian decided all that could wait as his wife handed him their little girl.

"Oh," Ruth cried as she came through the door, hurrying to her sister's side. "You okay?"

Ester laughed and cried to her sister, the two of them holding hands. Ginger crept in more slowly, making her way over to Brian. She gave a little wave to Ester, her arms wrapped around her body, more interested in looking at the bloody mess that Nessie was getting rid of.

Brian handed his wife their daughter, so Ruth could meet her better, then held out his hand to Ginger. "You going to congratulate me?"

"She supposed to be that small?" Ginger asked as she hugged him.

"Yes."

"Creepy," Ginger muttered, trying to pull away again. "Aren't you afraid you're just going to...squish her?"

"They're not going to squish her," Ruth said. "Don't you need to rest?"

"After this I will," Ester promised. "Do you want to hold her, Ginger?"

Ginger's eyes went round like his daughter's. Her arms waved in front of her, warding off the child. "I'm totally good here."

"But she's so cute," Ester said. "Loud, but cute."

"Hey, she kind of reminds me of someone," Brian observed. Ginger stuck out her tongue, but let him push her towards the bed. She even reached down and listened, more attentively than Brian had ever seen her listen in her life, to Ester's instructions on how to hold her.

"Holy fuck," Ginger whispered, being very careful to keep her arms over the bed. Just in case. "I can't believe I'm doing this."

"Try not to swear around my kid," Ester warned her.

Ginger nodded. "Sorry. So, uh, what's her name?"

"My father told me," Brian said, "That after watching her in labour, I was probably going to give Ester veto power over the name. He was right. Very right."

"Interesting," his wife said. "He probably should have said to wait until the pain meds were out of my system."

They had talked over names enough that he had good idea of what she'd pick.

"Emma."

Ginger nodded. "He wanted Emily, didn't he?"

Both Cook sisters nodded (so Ruth had heard about that little debate; Brian was too tired to blush). "I wanted something different."

"Also, you'd have to fight off the rest of them," Ginger informed them all. "Your brothers are all idiots."

"We could have beaten them all to it," he said to Ester, but he kissed her forehead and hoped she understood how glad he was at her choice.

"Hey, Ems," Ginger whispered to his daughter. "We're going to drive them totally nuts, aren't we?"


	38. Francine 1 of 2

A/N: Another two parter (I'm going to return to Ginger, eventually, promise), though for different reasons. I didn't want to spoil what happened to Brian by having Ginger's POV give it away. With Francine, I'm not exactly sure where I want her to end up.

I hope the structure of this isn't too jarring. Backstory ahoy!

* * *

><p>Francine 1 of 2<p>

* * *

><p>He'd been her first kiss, her first real kiss, not just quick pecks and watching him run away afterwards. No, this had been long and slow. She'd wrapped her arms around his neck, though she'd been taller than him at the time. He'd rested his hands on her back; his hands were shaking. She couldn't remember what either of them had looked like, not clearly, or even where they'd been—some party, some backroom, she assumes—but she remembers his hands shook as he pulled her closer.<p>

"You don't have to—" he'd said, or started to stay, but then she'd leaned down and kissed him. For a long time she wondered if she'd said something, anything, told him she wanted him instead of just leaning over, if maybe it all would have turned out differently.

For a second it was just like the other kisses. And then just as suddenly it wasn't. His lips were moving and she didn't know quite what to do, but she knew it felt nice. She surrendered to him and to the feeling. When he cupped her jaw, she opened her mouth to him and—well, it was her first real kiss.

It made her eager for the second, which made it a success (it was better than that; it made her desperate for another and another; for the rest of her life she enjoyed kissing and maybe it was because her first had been so, so perfect).

They pulled away from each other eventually; his thumb played along her jaw and she blushed until she could feel her ears ringing. She stared at his lips, those wonderful, warm lips that had felt better than she had ever imagined because she couldn't quite look him in the eye.

"You're the most beautiful—" He stopped then, so she glanced up and wished she hadn't. But she managed a tiny smile and kissed him again. She couldn't remember how long they stood there, wrapped in each other.

Her phone rang eventually; her mother wanted to come pick her up. He'd jumped halfway across the room and paced as she talked. He didn't kiss her goodbye, like she hoped he would, but he did hug her once before she left. His grip was tight; his hands weren't shaking anymore.

Will didn't talk to her for nearly four months afterwards.

* * *

><p>"I'm going to kill him."<p>

Francine doesn't look up from the pepper she's chopping. She likes peppers in her stir fry, but not blood; she's not going to risk cutting herself just for the chance to see Will Lahote pacing. It's an old, familiar sight.

"You should be happy," she says. It's a bit of a lie. "Levi's growing up. He's becoming more responsible—"

"He's going to make that girl miserable."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do," he exclaims. Everything Will says is an exclamation. He doesn't know how to speak calmly. Words come out in fits and starts, like he hates them so much he wants to spit them as far as he can. "I know that and you know that and even he knows that. She's the only one who doesn't know it!"

"It's not your place to make her think your way," Francine says as she looks around for the almonds. "Where did I put—?"

Will hands them over before he sighs and rests his elbows on the island in the middle of her kitchen and rests his head in his hands. The apartment is a little too nice, considering her budget, but she'd gotten a good deal for it. Besides, she needed a kitchen big enough to cook in. She might be living by herself, but she needed to be able to cook meals for six, ten people at a time. That's how she had been taught—parties that took up the whole backyard, not microwavable dinners.

His voice is quiet when he says, "I could tell her. Tell her—she wouldn't after I was done talking."

"No," she says firmly. "No, you won't."

"Kara's a good kid, Fran."

"And a good friend of mine. But this is her decision to make."

"So shouldn't she make it with all the facts?"

He's never been able to make her angry. It's probably why he has such a soft spot for her.

"If you were going to tell her, you would have told her by now."

Will snarls and springs away from the counter, back to pacing. "She's too in love with him. She wouldn't believe me."

"You're an idiot," Francine says as she begins to chop the almonds. "She'll believe you. You can be quite convincing when you want to be—" His mother's blood, she thinks "—she just loves him so much she won't care."

"That's even worse," he snaps. They can agree on that much.

"Are you going to make do all of this myself?" she asks him instead. "Because you invited yourself over without warning. You can't just bring the food and expect me to prepare it for you."

For almost two years, he's come over every Tuesday night (and Wednesday) and they've made dinner together. Sometimes he cooks (he's better at cooking for two) and sometimes she does. It doesn't matter, but he hates thinking he's taking advantage. There's a little bit of chivalry in him, though he'd deny it to his dying breath.

Will picks up the knife, which isn't the brightest idea he's ever had. Still, his hands are steady as he begins cutting up the broccoli. He's always been good with knives—he taught himself how to juggle with them when he couldn't sleep once. He's shown her once or twice; it's impressive. Dumb, but impressive.

"He's going to break her heart."

"Maybe he won't."

Will slams the knife against the cutting bored. "He's going to get bored of her."

"Maybe he won't. They've been together for a long time."

"Have you met my family? My parents have been together thirty years just because they're both too stubborn to be the first to call it quits."

And because, despite what he likes to say, they were very much in love with each other. Francine doesn't say that—did it matter if you loved one another, if all it did was make you and everyone else around you miserable?

"Well, then. Levi will stay with her out of stubbornness."

"He finds relationships boring, Fran. How can he get married if—? It's going to be a disaster."

"People change, William." She remembers the father she loved, the father she could trust. She knows better than anyone how much people can change. "He's not a child anymore. Maybe he'll make a good husband."

"I supposed my mother proves you don't have to respect your partner."

"William."

"What?"

"He does respect her. In his way."

Understanding Levi Black has never been one of her strong points. She understands Rachel Lahote well enough; blame him, so you didn't have to blame yourself. She understands Will, too—how often had he explained Rachel was sick, all those years, only to find out his father had been just as sick and no one told him? She doesn't think he'll ever forgive his mother for letting his father take all of the blame.

"If it can't punch through solid rock, Levi doesn't—Baxter's the only one he respects."

"Now you're just making things up." It had never been his responsibility to teach Levi there was any other way. Not really.

He sighs. Quietly, he says, "I just hate seeing her so happy when all I can think about is how it's going to go wrong."

"Maybe it won't."

He laughs and hands her the cutting board, so she can put the broccoli with the peppers. "I always forget; you're a romantic."

"I am not. Just because I cry at the end of movies—"

"You thought it was a good idea for my cousin to get married at the age of nineteen."

"They're going to be together forever." Baxter always knows his own mind; and they're just so, so happy. It's really not her fault she can't hold back the smile. "Not even you think they're not going to make it."

"He could imprint." Will grins at her. "Never underestimate my cynicism."

She rolls her eyes and ignores him.

He says, "At least she'll get to be happy for a little while."

Since she can't tell whether he thinks it'll be worth it, can't even tell who he's talking about at this point, she just asks him to start setting the table.

* * *

><p>The first time her father didn't come home at night, she waited on the porch all night, jumping at every noise, until Embry Call and Quil Ateara brought him home. They were carrying him between them, but they put him to bed and told her not to worry about it. Paul Lahote came over the next morning—they argued in her father's room, though she only knew because occasionally Paul would raise his voice. It was Paul who brought him home two weeks later.<p>

When Will dropped Levi off at school the day after that he got out of his car and came over to her. They didn't talk much; they hadn't talked much in years. Sometimes at school they could forget that they were no longer the kids whose fathers were best friends and fall back into old habits, but he barely came his last year and now…she knew it was bad before he reached her side because she honestly couldn't remember the last time he initiated a conversation with her.

It was the beginning of the worst time in her life.

Will explained, more than her father ever would. Booze got expensive, when you had to buy it for a werewolf, so he laced it with things, things she never wanted to know about, to help her father along. Her father didn't notice, didn't notice anything, not even his children. And on the nights he didn't come home, she didn't just wait on the porch as she waited for her father's friends to bring him home; she'd call Will, because if her father was out drinking, well, they needed to find something better for him. She didn't tell any of it to Brian. It was all she could do for their mother since…all she could do was try to keep her brothers as innocent as possible, for as long as possible, so that was what she did.

Depending on his mood when she asked him, Will told her he helped because he was bored, because he needed the money, because he wanted to fuck her until she couldn't walk, because they grew up together, because he liked watching her father piss himself, because he'd been taught it was his duty, because if he didn't help her his friends would, because he knew Brian was useless, because her family didn't need to see her father like this, because because because and she began to understand he had no idea why he was helping. He just did it.

So he was smoking on the porch when Paul helped her father out of the car, and he was watching as her father stumbled against her, still so very solid even as he was collapsing into nothing, whispering, "Emily," against her dark hair.

She didn't move; she was too terrified to move. Her father was in her arms and she was so scared she couldn't even cry. When he lurched, when vomit spilled from his lips into her hair it was a relief. Once her father was doubled over, Paul carried him inside (she should have figured it out when she saw how easily Paul managed, but she hadn't been thinking very well just then). She just stood there. It was the smell that roused her; she wouldn't stand there, smelling of vomit, even if she still felt prickles on her neck where—no, he wouldn't. That would just be—

She almost puked herself. Instead, she walked, slowly, steadily, one foot in front of the other, over to the side of the house. There was a hose there and she turned on the water. It had been spring, early spring. The night was cold and the water was freezing, so cold it burned her scalp when she stuck her head under. It was only when warm hands were in her hair that she remembered Will was there.

He didn't say anything, though, as he helped her wash her hair. They were both quiet as he pulled it out of the water and wrung it gently so it wouldn't get her too wet and waited for her to turn off the hose. She almost couldn't, but someone had to, so she did. She took her hair from him, let it drop down her back, wet her shirt. She was so cold she couldn't feel anything.

"Your dad..."

"He took off. When he's angry he takes off." All she could do was nod. "Your dad was just having a bad reaction. I—"

"Don't," she said so quietly she could barely hear herself. But Will heard and he stopped. "Don't start lying to me too. He's…he's getting worse. And I don't know what I'm going to do."

The tears came then, blurring her vision, but that didn't matter because it was dark and she could barely see him anyways and it didn't end up mattering at all because he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. They were the same height (he was slightly taller now, so slightly no one on the rez believed him) so it was easy enough to rest her head on his shoulder. Warm hands rubbed circles on her back and he just held her until she stopped crying.

It was a long while later before he let go.

"You'll get through it. You don't really have a choice about that," he offered when she stepped back.

It almost made her laugh. "I know." And she did. She had to because someone had to be there for her brothers. It wasn't going to be her father. "Thank you."

Will waved off her thanks. "See you around," he said as he left.

Three months later, he made a joke about sleeping with him to get back at her father. By then her sadness had burned away. So had her fear. All she wanted to do was smash the tiny pieces that remained of her father. "You wanna do it on his bed?" she'd said. That was how she found out he was joking because he didn't take her up on it. He'd just said, "Think he can overdose?" But when she snapped at him to take it back—he wasn't EVER allowed to joke about something like that—he'd just given her a small smile.

Five months later, it was Will, not her father, who disappeared.

His 'friends' started coming around, wanting money she hadn't even known she'd owed. She got through that too. She had to, so she did.

* * *

><p>"You two make a beautiful picture."<p>

Francine looks up from the dark head of her niece to smile at her twin. Brian's pride is almost too much, sometimes, but she thinks all the more of him for it. His little girl is going to be so spoiled for love.

"Thank you. It's mostly her."

Emma doesn't stir—Ginger says Ester picked the name, because Brian was being an idiot and wanted to call her Emily. Francine's glad Brian has those two women (girls? The woman and the girl) around him because he'd be utterly impossible otherwise. It's still too fresh. It might always be too fresh, for him and for her.

"You look like you were made to hold her," he says, ruffling the hair of his little girl. It's her birthday party and she's exhausted. Not even her father's touch can rouse her.

"That's Brian's unsubtle way of asking when you're going to have kids," Baxter says as he comes to sit beside her. She rolls her eyes at both her brothers because she knows that on this they are united against her.

"When are you going to have kids?" she asks Baxter. It's a waste of her breath.

"After we finish paying Jacob for the shop." His face softens whenever he even thinks about Judy. Watching him envision their future children means he looks wistful in a way her brother never does. She'd spent his whole wedding not knowing whether she should laugh or cry at how happy he was.

"She's hates that they're waiting," Brian tells her. Baxter sticks out his tongue at his brother, reduced to childish gestures because there's a sleeping child and their sister between them.

"I hate that we're waiting," Baxter says. "But it's the smart thing to do."

"You'll be good parents," she tells him. She can't imagine better parents, actually.

"You'd be good at it, too," Brian says. It would be quite touching except she still wants to scream.

"I'm going to get more cake," she says, sitting up. "And I'm taking my niece with me."

They don't say anything else. They don't need to. It's not a new topic of conversation. Every time she talks about a new man in her life, her brothers bring up kids. She's twenty-five, definitely not over the hill by any stretch of the imagination, and still they bring it up. They're both married now; she supposed worrying over the love affairs of others is all that's left to them.

"The two of you look really sweet together," Timmy says as she reaches the twins. Tom mouths 'sorry' to her behind his back, which is why her baby brother has always been her favourite. She knows he thinks the same as his twin, though, and if Arthur was here, he'd chime in as well. Francine finds Judy as quickly as she can. As much as she loves Emma, she doesn't mind unloading her on her sister-in-law. Judy loves children; Judy's going to be a giant child forever.

When she finds Will and Levi out back, Will trying not to laugh as Levi explains that the shed will end up looking like it's supposed to even though it doesn't quite seem that way just then, she's relieved. "Kill my brothers," she begs her imprint. "They're driving me crazy."

"What did they do now?" Levi asks.

"Their biological clocks are ticking, which means they think I should be having children right now."

All Levi does is shrug: "You should have kids. You're great with kids."

"I don't want kids."

"You say that now," Levi says.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that." Dinah's finally arrived and she'll understand, if no one else will. "I'm going to talk to someone who isn't going to make me want to hit them."

It's much, much later, when the party has wound down and they're trying to clean up the backyard in the dark, that Will brings it up again. "Your brothers are under the impression you want children."

"There's nothing I could say that would ever convince them I mean it," she replies. This is a truth she's known for a long while. She loves her brothers, but they are not meant for bending. Tradition has reached out from the past to claim them; it makes them sure of themselves. It makes them impossible.

"Why don't you? Want kids?" he asks. He's never asked. Somehow, along the way, being a friend during his grief had become something else. She can't think of anyone who knows about her than he does. But there are some things he doesn't ask about. They aren't his business so he doesn't ask. She likes that, just like she likes his hesitant tone just then. She could not answer, if she wanted.

"Why don't you?"

"Who says—" But he laughs, because all of La Push might know he never wants children (and has known for years). "Because I'm terrible with kids."

"Liar." They weren't allowed not to be good with children, not when someone needed to take care of the little ones. Benjamin can't figure out if he's supposed to give the phone to Paul or Will when someone says they need to speak to his father. She doesn't like pushing him either, though. Instead she offers, "I've raised enough children."

Will laughs softly. "It wasn't worth it, was it?"

"Not even a little bit," she agrees, trying to hide a smile at their lies. There are some things they couldn't change, even if they'd wanted to. It was too much a part of them to do things another way.

* * *

><p>The twins had seen Benjamin as a mascot. Their father had encouraged them, as if by taking care of one son, it would be like taking care of them both. Which was funny, she'd always thought, because it wasn't like Benjamin needed people to take care of him. Rachel spoiled the boy completely and Will hovered constantly and the only reason he was even a little bit normal was because Paul was mellowing out in his old age (also, having to parent his younger son around his older son's back, Paul must have spent time making sure every second counted, she'd always thought).<p>

While she had owed Will, her senior year, she'd babysat Benjamin more for the twins' sake than his.

It had the unfortunate effect of making the little boy adore her.

Even though she'd been away, even though she'd spent the summer busy doing her own thing (and Kyle), the kid still made sure to seek her out to say goodbye.

He even gave her two hearty smacks on her cheeks.

"You going to miss me then?" she asked and he blushed. Behind him, Will tried (badly) to hide his annoyance. First Levi, now Benjamin—she found it funny. She wondered if Will thought of it as punishment, instead of a sign of how much they believed he'd hung the moon.

"Do you really have to go? Because you can stay with me. Paul's building me bunkbeds."

"But isn't he building them just for you?"

"We could share."

"That's why you're my favourite," she told him. Benjamin grinned—he was an absolutely beautiful child. He'd grow up to be a heartbreaker, she could tell already. "I'll see you soon, okay? Be good for your brother."

He crossed his hand over his heart and swore he would be. Will managed to keep back the smile enough to order him to say goodbye to their cousins.

"You going to come back once you put him to bed?" she asked, standing up beside him.

"Nah. Mom and Dad are having a good time. I'll stay with the kid."

"So this is where we say goodbye, too?"

He seemed surprised, like he'd forgotten she was going away tomorrow. She was excited—she liked school. But that didn't mean she wasn't going to miss home. That didn't mean she liked goodbyes.

"I guess it is. Thank you, for this summer."

"I didn't do anything."

"Seriously," he said, stepping closer, blocking out the rest of the room. "Thank you. I mean, I'm never going to wear yoga pants—"

"You'd look good in spandex."

"Shut up," he said as he laughed. She found herself grinning up at him. "The new age stuff is weird. But it's...it's helping. So thank you."

"It was mostly Nancy. And I heard you thanked her already."

He rolled his eyes. "You're a terrible gossip."

"I may have told Levi, too." He'd just looked so sad, her imprint, every time he thought about his cousin, even if he expressed it as crudely as he possibly could, that she had to say something.

"Well, it might just get him off my back."

"And it might help, you know." She said it because it was true; he should consider all his options. "Bert thinks it would help and he seems to know you pretty well."

"Bert thinks you would help. He isn't trying to get me under every women within a hundred miles." Unlike Levi, he didn't bother to say.

"I am very good in bed."

But he didn't laugh at her joke. He didn't blush, either. He just looked at her until she felt nervous, until she was embarrassed, though she couldn't have said why.

"He was right, you know," Will said, looking over her head. He could do that now. She didn't like it at all. "You've been amazing. I couldn't have—I'm better when I can talk to you."

"Thank you."

"How did it become so easy to talk to you?" he asked. She almost missed it, he said it so softly; she almost wished she had.

"I—I have a theory," she said, knowing she was babbling and unable to stop. "For me, I—after you saw me at my worst, there really wasn't a point in not telling you everything."

"If that was you at your worst—you were amazing back then. Brian barely noticed his dad was alcoholic. You managed to handle Mike—you didn't give up on your father. It would have been so easy for you to just…"

"Stop getting you to help him?"

"I was glad I could help you." He'd never said that before—implied it, certainly, but never said it outright. It was nice to finally hear. She was a little proud he could finally admit it.

"So," she said, clearing her throat, "Does this mean we can admit we're friends, now?"

"You know," he said, smiling, pleased, "I think it might."

* * *

><p>Francine works most Saturdays and some Sundays. The law firm is busy and she wants everyone to know that she deserves to be there. Her weekends are shot to hell, but Will comes over Saturday night, brings take out with him (makes sure he eats most of it because if she gains weight she's going to be even more miserable) and films from around the world. She likes foreign films; she likes worlds that are different filled with people that think differently, feel differently, value different things. Will doesn't seem to mind them. He doesn't complain much; if he's complaining, he's in a bad mood and bemoaning everything in his life. He doesn't mean it.<p>

La Push isn't close by, even for a werewolf. It's not far and he likes running, he says, but she doesn't want him running for hours, especially that late at night. Besides, Will's the easiest person on the planet to share a bed with. He doesn't sleep much, so she falls asleep in an empty bed and wakes to an empty bed. Sometimes, she doubts he ever came to bed at all.

He doesn't wake her up when he slips under the covers, but she's dreaming about the contracts she has to review so she wakes up in the middle of the night. She hears him breathing in the dark and she smiles, glad he actually does listen to her when she tells him he's not allowed to take the couch, not when she's got a double bed and they're both adults. She doesn't dare shift, afraid to wake him; he gets so little sleep she sometimes doesn't understand how he survives. All she does is listen to him breathe, letting it lull her back to sleep.

When she wakes up it's almost noon and he's making breakfast.

"You should have called me," she tells him.

"You looked tired. Beautiful," he adds, when she starts to pout, "As always, but tired."

"Shut up," she says and he laughs and hands her toast. He's got to be on round three or four; werewolves eat far too much. "What did you do this morning?"

There's a crossword and he's stuck on half of it, so they get to work. They still haven't worked out what 'confabulation' is when her phone goes off.

It's Donavan.

"I brought you a present," he says. "Can I come up?"

"Sure," she responds automatically. He's been up before, but only at night. They'd met through a friend at work and he's great, good in bed and a good time out of it. They'd agreed to try something a little more serious lately, but they hadn't agreed to stopping off in the middle of the morning with presents.

"My boyfriend's here," she offers Will as she starts cleaning up.

"Dan?"

"Donavan. It won't take me long to get rid of him."

Will shrugs. "We can go another week. Poor guy came all this way to see you."

"You came farther."

"I can run faster. It's fine."

"I'm not kicking you out."

All Will says is, "You got a shirt I can borrow?"

"Yeah." Because Donavan is a reasonable man, but Will is a little too good looking with his shirt off and there's no sense in rubbing her boyfriend's face in that.

Donavan brings her roses, beautiful big roses that are overpriced and will die in a few days. She still loves them, smiles and kisses him for his thoughtfulness (kisses him because he doesn't know you can feed six people for a week, if you had to, for the cost of his bouquet). Then she introduces the two of them, watches as they shake hands. It's still strange, she finds, watching Will tower over people. She's taller than Donavan when she wears heels.

Will can be pleasant when he wants to; he's not like Levi, who can make strangers fall in love with him without even noticing, but when Will wants to be (and just then he wants to be) he's not charmless, though he likes to think he is. He's making an effort and it's sweet; it's also sad that she knows if it was anyone else from home, they wouldn't be trying to get to know Donavan. They'd be not so subtly plotting his demise.

When Will's gone, just excuses himself in front of Donavan so she can't argue with him anymore, Donavan turns to smile at her.

"One of the legions of brothers?" he asks. She realizes she only gave first names, didn't bother explaining what each of them was to her.

"Old friend," she says. "We grew up together. He likes coming to visit me in the big city."

"Will," he repeats, having finally placed the name. "Your phone buddy. The only man awake at three o'clock in the morning."

"You have a good memory," she says, stepping closer. His hands wrap around her waist and she kisses him lightly.

"I remember the last time I was here," he says and then they're too busy making new memories to think about the past.

* * *

><p>The party had been at Laurie's house that night—her parents had been out of town and things had quickly gotten out of hand. Dinah and Brian left early in the night, tired of sitting around watching people take who knew what. Being left behind wasn't so bad though; Connor was with her and she was still in the stage of believing they'd be together forever and everything would be perfect. She was having a great time.<p>

After a while, she told him she wanted to go someplace else. Connor grinned. He'd been from Forks, though his hair was dark like hers, and there'd been more than a few reasons she'd given it up to him—the steady smile, the way he could never get enough of her, the way he understood that she sometimes had to look after her brothers after school because Mom was kind of sick sometimes. And he was smooth about slipping out so they could find a room. Some guys would have drawn attention to it, would have made it a spectacle, but Connor never did. She had thought herself in love with him, then.

They never did get to a room. Connor tripped as they walked slipped through the house and when they looked down, Will looked was there.

He looked terrible.

So terrible, in fact, that in the second it took her to kneel down beside him she thought—but it didn't matter, because she felt his heartbeat quickly enough. He was just asleep (or something). Still, she shook his shoulders and tried to rouse him. "William. William, you need to get up. Will—Will, get up."

He made a noise, soft and pained, which at least let her know he was alive.

"Shouldn't he be waking up?" she asked Connor.

"We should find his friends. They might know what he's taken."

"He doesn't—" It would have sounded stupid, so Francine didn't say. She knew Will wasn't magically that alert all the time, but she'd always thought it stopped there. You couldn't sell what you took yourself. Why in the world did she think he was smarter than this? "Will, wake up. Wake up, you idiot."

"Not a…" he murmured. She tried not to be too relieved. His voice was slurred, but at least his lashes were fluttering, like he was attempting to open his eyes.

"Help me get him to the bathroom," she said to Connor. Her boyfriend took most of Will's weight (not that there was much; he was the same size as she was, maybe even thinner) while she helped them balance. When they placed him on the floor though, it was hard to be graceful about it. Will ended up moaning as he sort of flopped onto the ground. He was more alert now, at least.

Connor watched as she got water for Will, as she talked at him, trying to keep him focused. He didn't say much back, just a few murmured words here and there, but they made sense, at least. Questions about what he'd taken were meant with blank stares though—and repeated requests to know where they were.

At one thirty, Connor had to go, if he wanted to make curfew, so she stood up to kiss him goodbye. "Why did we have to help him again?"

"I'm another fucking brother," Will growled from the floor. Whatever he had taken had certainly messed with his mind, because normally he would have tried not to sound so bitter and Francine flushed.

"We have to stick together around La Push," she offered, wishing Will had learned to just shut up.

"You're too nice," Connor said, kissing her long and hard and deep before he left. It wasn't a good kiss; she knew that it had absolutely nothing to do with her. Besides, it was pointless. Will had his eyes closed again.

After Connor left, when it was just the two of them, she sat down beside him and didn't try to hide her anger. "You have to stop this," she hissed.

"I know," and he sounded so tired she believed him. "You think I'm not trying?"

"Where's Tessa tonight?"

"Probably fucking someone."

"William."

"Let her have fun." The worst part was that he meant it; he'd have meant it even if he was sober. He seemed to like Tessa and didn't seem to care if she cheated. Around La Push—cheating was not acceptable around La Push. Will always did like what wasn't acceptable around La Push. "I'm sorry I ruined your night."

"Apology accepted. Please, don't do it again." His eyes were open now, gazing at her, like he couldn't figure out what she really meant. It was so simple—please, stop doing this to yourself. You deserve better than this. He didn't seem to be in pain anymore, just confused enough that he didn't stop staring at her. "William, stop it."

"You're just a bad habit," he murmured. But there was a flush on his cheeks. She felt a bit bad about that, but she didn't know what to do about it. It's not like he wanted to want her, he'd made that _very_ clear. "I've got a lot of those."

They couldn't stay there all night; she had to get home. Her father would be upset, of course, that she'd stayed out so late, but she'd explain and he'd be all right with that. For some reason, her father seemed to feel like he owed Will—or perhaps it was Paul he owed. Poor Paul. She had always felt sorry for Paul Lahote, who hadn't wanted to be anyone's husband, or best friend, or father, and hadn't quite managed to figure out how to be any of it when he was forced to be all three. Not that she ever said that to Will—though sometimes she thought he felt the exact same way.

Before she had come up with a plan, Will's phone went off. It took a long moment for his fingers to figure out how to work pockets, but eventually he pulled out the phone. It took him a long time to focus on the text he'd been sent, waving it in front of his face—enough so she saw a screen of flesh.

"Someone's sending you porn?" she asked.

Will climbed to his knees and made his way in front of the toilet. His fingers were already in his mouth before she could tell him to stop it; he was puking almost before she looked away. After he stopped retching, he—

"I really don't feel comfortable seeing all that."

All Will did was swear (repeatedly). When she chanced another glace at him, he was washing out his mouth in the sink. The drugs had disappeared again.

"Take my keys and drive yourself home if you want," he said, clutching at the sink for support. "I need to find Tess."

"You'll be all right?"

Will just held out the keys. Since staying wouldn't help him—she had no idea how to help, she'd never had—she took them and left him there.

* * *

><p>It's raining in Seattle (it's always raining in Seattle), so they're just wandering around the shopping mall, staying dry. She's been meaning to say something since they got there, but it's only after hours have passed and he hasn't brought it up that she does.<p>

"My brother said you're going to try to stop phasing."

"Try being the operative word." Will glances around, making a point about how they shouldn't be doing this in public.

"Were you going to tell me?" It would take him months—it had taken her father only a few, but that was after twenty years; Will's only been doing this for seven, so it'll take him almost half a year, if it works. He was just going to disappear for six months without telling her? "Or just hope I wouldn't notice?"

They talk on the phone once a day. It's habit, one they started the year Marlena died, when he needed someone to talk to and she needed to someone to talk to (because Dinah said she'd call the cops, if Francine didn't have someone knowing where she was as she walked home from work), to call him every night.

"I would have told you when Levi agreed. He doesn't want to."

"Why not?" If anyone should know this is what Will wants, it's Levi.

Will lets out a bark of laughter; as an attempt to pretend the situation is funny, it's an utter failure. Listening to him makes her heart ache.

"It won't work," he says bleakly. "It took my father twenty years. There's no way—"

"You're not your father." Sometimes, at night, when she's combing her hair, she can feel her father's breath on her neck, her mother's name heavy between them—and everything she feels then she puts into the four words Will refuses to believe, not matter how many times she says them.

"Have you ever seen me control my temper? Ever?"

Not for six months.

"If you've already given up," she says, making the words as cruel as she can, because sometimes he doesn't listen to sense, but he's Black enough that he always takes the dare, "Then why did you bother asking?"

"I didn't. Judy—we can read each other's minds. She—I don't know."

Judy likes seeing people happy.

"Is it really so bad being effectively immortal? Do you really need to stop?" she offers him quietly. She doesn't like watching him suffer. It's why it's so very hard to be his friend; he's so good at making himself miserable.

"Not aging is one of the perks."

"Then what's so bad about it?"

"You ever get angry in your life, Fran?" he asks her, voice soft.

"I spend time with you, don't I?"

It makes him laugh, a little, enough so that he relaxes if only a fraction. "I feel like I'm going to fly apart. Every second of every day, I feel like there's nothing keeping me together. The only difference is now I can hold it off, most of the time, where before I just...kept falling apart. But I—I need to stop. I can't—if I stay like this, forever—I can't. I won't."

"I think you're putting too much pressure on yourself. You've got it into your head that the only way you can be happy is if you stop being a werewolf. And I don't think that's true. You need to stop thinking it is."

"I used to think if I just left La Push…" He laughs, sharp and bitter. "I'm an idiot. You know, it wasn't until Lena that I even started considering that running away might not be the answer."

"I know a lot about needing to not be...it works best if you're running to something."

"What did you run to?"

"My job," she admits. "It sounds pathetic, I know—"

"No, it doesn't."

He'd work twenty-four hours a day, if he could, but that's not because he likes work. He likes the money he gets from it. But maybe he understands anyway.

"I feel like I'm doing something that matters. And not just because it's what everyone else wants me to do, but because it's what I want to do. And the people at work respect me for it, and not just because I have tits."

He gives her a smile, a real one, one he doesn't usually share because it's really not fair, that smile; he's _too_ good-looking when he smiles like that. She doesn't hold it against him like she might, though, because when he smiles like that she knows he's forgotten, for a second, what it might look like. He's just happy. She tries not to think about how easy it is to make him happy, when she's happy.

"I think," she continues, "That once you accept that you can be happy and be a werewolf at the same time, you're going to be pretty unstoppable." Will looks a little unimpressed and she laughs. "It's true. I don't know anybody who can…focus, the way you can. It's quite a talent, you have."

"Yes, my self-absorption is quite impressive. I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"It's not really any of my business," she says because it's true.

Will glances over her head: "The rain's stopped. Let's head home."

* * *

><p>When she got into law school, her brothers threw her a party the next time she came home. They didn't need to, she reminded them, but that didn't stop them. It was sweet, though she was pretty sure Aunt Leah was the one who ended up catering the whole thing.<p>

"Rachel Lahote, actually," Baxter said, a little embarrassed. "Something came up and Aunt Leah couldn't do it."

"That was nice of her."

"We're paying her." Which was a relief, actually. "Stop thinking about all that. You're supposed to be enjoying this."

"I will," she promised. She had. Coming home was always a good time; she got to see her brothers, she got to see her old friends, she got to see Levi. Being Levi's imprint meant she didn't have to feel guilty, the way she might otherwise have, about falling under his spell the way everyone else did. Seth's wife had promised, "Just because it doesn't make sense now, doesn't mean it won't make sense one day." So Francine enjoyed his company and stopped wondering why her—what did the spirits want with her that they needed their Alpha to keep her close?

When she saw Will, the first thing she said was, "Your mother really didn't have to go to so much trouble."

Will only laughed. "She's living vicariously through you. Obviously. It was her pleasure."

Despite all the things that Paul had done to him (or not done to him), Francine always privately thought Will would have still been all right, if still scared of the dark, if he'd had a different mother. Even in her depression fueled absence from his life, Rachel had managed to impress upon him the only way to be happy was to get out. If she hadn't done that...there was no point in wondering, of course. And she thought it was healthier for Will that he'd stopped blaming his parents (though he still held them up as an example of all that he could fail to be). Still, she'd always thought Rachel deserved more of the blame than her husband would allow her to accept.

"Is that what you do?" she asked, sitting down beside him on the couch. "Live through me?"

"Sure. Why do you think I visit you so often?"

Will came by at least once a week and had been doing that for a while, now, but it was mostly because he was bored in La Push. Levi had apparently discovered military history, but reenacting battles wasn't Will's cup of tea. He liked things that hadn't been said or done a thousand times before. She even thought he liked the smell of the city, something that wasn't the same combination of earth and sea that had been around their entire lives.

"Here I thought you just liked my company."

"You're really not as interesting as you think you are," he teased. She pretended to be put out, but ruined her performance by laughing. "Hey," Will said, "Congrats. You deserve it."

"Thank you. I'm sorry they didn't give us more money," she admitted. She'd gotten some scholarships, sure, and some financial aid, but it wasn't enough, it was never enough.

"As long as there's only one large renovation project this year, preferably without too much structural damage, we'll be okay."

"Assuming my younger brothers won't want to go to college."

"Art likes his music—" Which Will thought was wonderful because you didn't have to do to school for that. "And I can't see the twins in school for too long. Tim's not dedicated enough and Tom—well, we'll see what happens."

"If you've convinced him not to go to school, you're going to wish you hadn't."

"I couldn't convince that kid to do anything even if I wanted to. Do you know what I had to do to get Baxter to take money? Judy won't work on Tom. He'll pay his own way or he won't go at all."

"Then we'll convince him otherwise," she said. The arrogance in her own voice made her cringe; after all, it wasn't just hers to insist that her brother should take it. "I should hopefully have a job by the time the twins and Benjamin need to start thinking about school."

"I know. You don't need to worry about that."

He meant it; which is why she felt so guilty.

"We're going to pay you back."

"Aren't you the one who's always saying I need to learn how to stop trying to make everything in life balance?"

"Because you act like you owe us and you don't. You never did."

"Maybe I'm just trying to buy your forgiveness."

"It doesn't work that way." He knew that; he knew too much about forgiveness.

"Fran, I know you're going to pay me back one day," he said. "Immortal, remember? It doesn't matter to me when you do it."

"If I didn't pay you back, you wouldn't be able to balance those spread sheets you obsess over."

"True. That would be disappointing."

"You're such a nerd."

"I think I would be better at life if it was just debits and credits," he admitted.

"You're not so bad at it."

He just laughed. "Sometimes, I really am."

* * *

><p>"You've been quiet all night," Will says to her as they watch the movie credits on screen. They don't talk through movies, but she knows he means dinner and beforehand. She's glad he's back (still a wolf, perhaps more angry about it than before, but back, at least he's back—she missed him the two months he spent trying to stay calm), but she wishes he wasn't so observant, sometimes.<p>

"I broke up with Donavan," she admits.

"Why didn't you say anything before?" She shrugs. "You okay?"

"Yeah. It's just been a while since I've been dumped."

"He dumped you?" His surprise is pleasing to her vanity. "Have your brothers already avenged your honour?"

"Shut up."

"You want to talk about it? Or just watch another movie?"

"It's getting late. I just…I liked him. I think the two of us would have worked together. I didn't think he—he caught me off guard."

"Did he give you a reason?"

"No." It's not a lie, not really—Donavan's explanation had been crap. Mostly. There were parts of it she didn't totally disagree with. She'd been distant lately; she'd been worried about Will becoming human, worried how much it had meant to her, that sudden unlooked for thought, worried that if he had succeeded—but he hadn't. He wouldn't. But the stuff about her being cold was just something Donavan used to make himself feel better about being unable to see anything but what she wanted him to. "He's not the first to do that."

"You often get dumped for no explanation?"

It's his surprise that surprises her into talking. "You did it. I'm mean, not that we were dating but—you know what I mean."

"I thought me being me and an idiot kid on top of it was kind of explanation itself."

"Not really," she admonishes him quietly. "You were my first kiss, you know." The first one that counted, at any rate.

Part of her is pleased at his surprise, a vain, young part of her that is glad he couldn't tell from her fumbling that she had no idea what she was doing. She'd thought he'd known; Will has a talent for guessing the truth about her. It's part of why she forgives him over and over again; he always seems to understand her so easily.

"I didn't know that."

"Did you even remember that you kissed me?"

It's not curiosity, though she knows that's what she'd say if he asked. The feeling is too old to be curiosity. Too old, too hurt. He doesn't ask; he frowns and looks away, keeps his expression from her eyes.

"Of course I remember."

"I don't believe you."

"You were wearing that red dress you wore all that summer. The one with the blue flowers at the bottom. That was too short. And your hair was down and you'd taken off your sandals. You almost stepped on my toes when you kissed me."

His voice is matter the fact, like they're playing a game of memory. Will has always been a terrible actor. This isn't a long forgotten memory he's suddenly recalling; he knows this, knows all of it, by heart.

"Your hands were shaking," she murmurs.

"I'd never wanted anything so much in my life." Will snorts. "My voice cracked. I remember that. I wanted to die, I was so embarrassed. You looked like—you were the most perfect thing I'd ever seen and puberty chose that moment—" He laughs and she finds herself laughing with him.

"Why didn't—what did I do?" Almost fifteen years later and she finally asks him: "What did I do wrong?"

"You can't think it was you. Fran—it wasn't you. You were perfect."

It's the second time he's said that and she finally understands he means it. That in her memories, as she was then, awkward angels and underdeveloped breasts (not the puberty helped much, with those) she was perfect to him just then. The flattery makes her kinder than he deserves.

"So what happened?"

Will sighs and winces and she already knows whatever explanation he can offer it's not one that is very convincing. "Why did you kiss me that night?"

"I don't even remember."

"Because I was there. We were bored and I was there and Dinah wasn't. Did you like me then? As something other than a friend?"

"You've always been the handsomest friend I've ever had." But he doesn't want her jokes. "I don't know. I don't remember."

"I had the worst crush on you," he admits. "I have no idea when it started, but by the end of that summer I was pretty much obsessed. I liked blaming our dads, the way they kept telling me how wonderful you were, but it wasn't that. I just—you were smart and funny and sweet and beautiful and I was absolutely mad about you."

"So you ignored me for months?" It feels like she's fallen asleep in the middle of a lecture only to find it's a different class entirely. She missed the logic somewhere along the way.

"I didn't say it made me smart," he says with a growl. "I just—I was crazy about you and you answered your phone on the first ring. You didn't even—it didn't mean anything to you. And I was stupid kid, Fran. I didn't want to risk telling you everything only to have you just…not care. So I avoided you. I'm sorry. I know I was a jerk about it. I know I was a jerk about a lot of things."

"It was a long time ago," she says with a shrug. "And you're still kind of a jerk."

He throws a pillow at her. It's not true now the way it was then, though. Not that it changes anything.


	39. Francine 2 of 2

A/N: Sorry this took so long. I've had a lot of personal matters to deal with, unfortunately, in the past couple of weeks. Now I'm trying to catch up with school/work, so don't hold your breath for Ginger's chapter (which I need to break in two).

In happier news, I won an award! The timing of the above majorly sucky real life stuff meant I didn't even notice I was nominated until they had posted the results, but it was really nice to come back and find. So, I got third place in the Non-Canon Award, for a Non-Canon Pairing for my Angela/Embry story! It's really nice to see that story getting some love.

Possibly whoever nominated me is not reading this, but if you are, thank you! And thanks to anyone who brought this about! And all the people who set up the cool looking website for your awards thing-I'm so impressed. I have no idea how these things work, but I really needed a boost. It couldn't have come at a better time.

Possibly the ending of this is a little more cheery than it otherwise would have been; but I am not doing angst right now, so.

* * *

><p>Francine 2 of 2<p>

* * *

><p>Brian tells her it's going to be a mistake, but Francine doesn't listen. It's been a long time since she listened to her brother; she trusts him to look after their brothers (with supervision), knows that whatever degrees she has on her walls that he doesn't he's always going to be smarter than her, but she doesn't see how he could possibly be right. It's not the first time she's brought Will with her when she needs a date at the last minute—the boys from home will always come through, but she won't bring her brothers, Bert's too shy around strangers and Levi...<p>

"Even in a suit, Levi looks threatening," Will says.

"That's not why I asked you instead," she says. Will looks better in a suit, even if it is a rental (it's very hard to rent a suit in Levi's size, so they would have had to make do with a twenty year old hand me down), but that's not why she asked him, either. Neither man has anything in common with the people at her office, but at least Will can talk about things outside La Push.

"You shouldn't have brought me," he says as he surveys the room. They had a great time together a Jess's wedding; a workplace party is apparently a different matter. "We look too Indian together."

"That's what we are," she mutters. Paul can pass, but his son takes too much after his mother. Her outfit is less trendy than she would prefer, but she can't show up in a beaded dress.

"I'm sure you go out of your way to remind them," Will says. But it's the last thing he says about it. He goes where she wants him to and smiles a bit more than is polite so he doesn't have to talk quite so much. He might not like people, but he's never had a problem making them like him for twenty minutes at a time (when it's just small talk and assumptions based on how angelic he can look). After thirty minutes he gets annoyed and short-tempered, but she doesn't let him stay around anyone for that long. The point is for him to be seen, not heard, anyway.

Afterwards, they go to a little club nearby with a few of her friends from work. She lets the bass thrum through her body. That's the only part she misses, from those long nights she used to spend working; she misses the pounding of the music. She misses feeling it come alive inside her, misses releasing everything that had gotten twisted up inside through the movement of her body.

Will rolls his eyes but pulls her to her feet. "You don't have to," she says, but she knows her smile betrays her. She loves dancing. Maybe that's why he smiles back (smiles for the first time that night; she should have realized then that Brian was right) as he takes her in his arms. It's not the first time they've been dancing together; Will even took salsa lessons with her once because she needed a partner. He'd been just as warm then. The music hadn't been quite so loud, though, and she hadn't…well, she'd had a boyfriend at the time.

Is that the only difference? She doesn't know. They're dancing and talking and laughing; he doesn't drink anymore (or so he says—she wants to believe him, but she's not sure she does) and she's only had a gin and tonic. Her friends are there and they're just having a good time, up until the moment he leans over and asks her if she wants to go back to her place and—

Her mouth goes dry, even though she tells herself she's misheard. It takes her a second to push away from him, though she stops the second she has enough room to see his face. There's something in his eyes that she's probably mistaken for anger more than once and she shivers. "What's one more thing between friends?" she murmurs. It makes him laugh and he follows her into the cab without another word.

Brian was probably right, she thinks, when it takes her three tries to open her apartment. This is going to be a mistake. She still kisses him after he locks the door behind them. He's a little out of practice but muscle memory kicks in quickly and then he's kissing her properly and it's very hard to remember why this could be so very dangerous.

It's early in the morning by the time she ends up in the washroom, cleaning herself off. A glance in the mirror shows that her hair is a mess, so she braids it once she's clean between her legs. If she can't hold her own eye in the mirror, well, there's no one around to see.

When she goes back into her room, Will is on her tablet. He can't stay still for a second. "What's a four letter word for miscalculates?" he asks. He watches her as she crawls towards him on the bed, but only shifts to silently offer her a place to sit, if she wants it. She might as well—she curls against him, head on his chest, and glances at the puzzle in front of him.

"Errs," she suggests. He manages to put it in with one hand. The other is stroking along her arm and she doesn't want to tell him to stop. "And twenty-nine down is true."

"For faithful? Oh. I'm not there yet," he mutters, but fills it in nonetheless. "Sorry, you want to go to sleep?"

He'll just take the puzzle back into the other room and she'll fall into bed all alone.

"You're different than I thought you'd be in bed."

"Good different or bad different?"

"Just different." He snorts; it's not an acceptable answer. "I guess always thought you'd be..."

"Fran, I don't think there's a diplomatic way to end to that sentence."

"I was going to say passionate, but that's not...you're just...a lot more patient than I ever thought you would be. I like it. It's just different than what I imagined."

"Did you imagine what I'd be like in bed a lot?"

"Sometimes," she admits. Once and a while during high school, on the rare occasion when he was nice, though her imagination had been quite limited then, but more and more as the years went by even though he really isn't as good looking as he once was. She's still warm from him and maybe lying naked beside him should make her feel vulnerable, but mostly it just makes her remember that it was good with him. Different than she thought it would be, but good. He still tastes like her, when she leans up to kiss him. "You ever imagine what I'd be like?"

He rolls his eyes. "You know I did. All of La Push knows I did."

"It's not my fault you're the most obvious man on the planet," she says. Unfortunately, he still remembers exactly where on her stomach he shouldn't touch. She squirms away: "No more tickling!"

Will is laughing at her; she thinks she should be more annoyed than she is. He'd definitely been more irreverent than she expected—silly and patient aren't really words she ever associates with him.

"It's not my fault you're so sensitive."

She's probably lucky he didn't realize how ticklish her feet are or she'd be in real trouble; he's put the tablet down (he wouldn't risk the cost of replacing it) and she worries it means he's going to torture her some more. She tries to distract him. "So who was better? Me or imaginary me?"

"Imaginary you was pretty flexible."

"You want flexible, huh?" She's still in pretty good shape, even if she can't do what she used to. But Will just laughs.

"Not really."

"What do you like?" she asks, "For next time."

"You're assuming your brothers won't kill me tomorrow." He doesn't sound worried—or eager for it. At least there's that; this isn't just to annoy them.

"They won't do that. It would upset me." It's not a crime to be curious. "Did you just have a death wish tonight?"

"Your father has a whole speech about how I don't think things through. Something about me being a screw up," he says with a hint of a smile (it's not a nice smile). "The music was too loud."

She almost says he didn't have to sleep with her just to convince her to leave, but fortunately she manages to bite it back. It's early in the morning and it was good, so there's no point in getting into an argument about whether he is or is not destined to ruin everything he touches. He wouldn't let her win that fight, anyway.

"It was a good idea," she says instead. "And since we're both unattached, I wouldn't mind doing it again. So—what do you like?"

"You." She kisses him for that. It's startling how quickly he can shift them, so she's lying on her back on the bed moments later, his body covering hers. "I'll take what I can get."

"You just have to ask, you know. I will, so it's only fair you do the same. And if you try something you haven't asked about beforehand we're going to have a problem. I don't like surprises in bed."

He pulls away, serious once more. So very carefully he says, "There's a lot of stuff that brings up bad memories that I like to avoid."

"That's why we need to talk."

His teeth nip at her shoulder, but he's been very careful about leaving marks. "Lena tried to blindfold me once. It didn't go so well."

Oh, Lena, darling Lena who never thought anything through. He's a control freak; he never would have really liked it. But forcing him to give up control in the dark? What was she thinking? A werewolf having a panic attack sounded absolutely terrifying.

"Were you okay?" Was she okay? It's a question she can't ask—and one she wishes she didn't automatically think.

"It was—we just never did that again. I like the lights on," he says very firmly. "It kind of bothered her, I think, until she realized it meant we were more likely to get caught."

"Yeah, I'm definitely not into that." She likes her sex life private, thank you very much. "Even thinking I might get caught is a huge turnoff. I don't mind you watching me, if you're into that, but not the public at large."

"No wonder you and Levi never worked out. The kid would have sex in the middle of the street if we didn't constantly remind him it was a crime."

She can't help laughing—she can picture Levi doing that so easily. He'd send out invitations first, of course, because he wouldn't want anyone to miss the show. He can be quite thoughtful.

"Okay, so don't get mad," she says, knowing that it's not going to help. But it's her duty, as a daughter of La Push and all that. She has to ask. "But I need to know: which one of you is bigger?"

So she deserves the pillow in her face. Will's rolling her eyes when she glances at him, but there's a small smile on his face. Good. She didn't actually want him angry. She is surprised when he answers: "How have you not noticed the kid's ego?"

"If it makes you feel better, Arthur has this theory where you top."

Which is far more information about her little brother and his sex life than she ever really needed to know, but Ginger has yet to learn when to just keep her mouth shut.

"That's good?" Will asks. She doesn't know either, but they're laughing, so it doesn't matter. When they stop he kisses her fingers; it makes something tighten insider he, the delicate feel of his lips just brushing against her. "Now that you know the truth, you sure you wouldn't prefer Levi?"

"You're the one who comes to visit." She kisses him and hopes he understands how much she's always appreciated that. "We might as well do dinner and sex instead of just dinner sometimes. At least until either one of us starts seeing someone."

It's more likely she'll start seeing someone first. Her sex life is far more active than his, but that's because Will doesn't like strangers touching him and he hates making friends. He hasn't been celibate since Marlena, though, so it's not like he couldn't be the one to start seeing someone else first, even though chances are it's going to be her.

All Will does is shrug and say, "Sure."

For the first time since she was a very, very little girl, she finds herself really, truly angry with him, which is utterly unacceptable. She sits up and heads over to her dresser. "Do you want something to sleep in?" she asks as she grabs for clothing. Usually, she wears threadbare shirts from home, but she knows from Dinah that wolves don't like it when you wear your brother's shirts. She finds a navy satin negligee that she's never actually slept in, but it looks good on her and there's not much of the night left at any rate.

"I'm fine," he says. "If you don't mind."

"It's fine," she agrees.

* * *

><p>The first time—and only time, if you counted that entire night as just one time, which she did because otherwise she'd tried and been rejected more than once and she refused to consider that—she'd tried to kiss Levi, he'd turned her down cold.<p>

She could remember that much; the entire night was a bit of a blur, but she remembered that much. There had been an ache between her legs and his extra-large hands on her thighs. The booze had distorted the rest, but the heat of his hands was burned onto her flesh. There was also the smell of smoke, which was odd because he'd stopped smoking tobacco when he started with other plants, and the sound of silence. There'd been no one around.

Of course there hadn't been. She wouldn't have tried if there had been anyone around.

But she had been curious—it wasn't a crime to be curious, was it? Levi boasted enough for all six of his pack and she'd heard enough to think it wasn't all hot air. He was supposed to be her soul mate they said, so why shouldn't she test him out? Kara wouldn't know—or maybe Kara would find out and wouldn't that be better for everyone involved?

Kara didn't deserve to have her heart broken. Years and years of taking care of her brothers and Francine couldn't just turn it off. She needed to protect Kara, too. And that meant getting her away from boys who were only interested when it suited them, boy who only wanted one thing from you (and weren't afraid of taking it it), boys who were never around when you really needed them.

But for all that she couldn't remember, all that she barely remembered, the thing that always stuck with her was the wistful way Levi spoke when he talked about Kara.

And in his words she'd heard yearning, something true and desperate; he'd wanted to be better. In that moment he showed he could be better. She'd first loved him, then, when he said he had to try, damn the consequences he was going to _try_, so very unlike her father.

Her relationship with Levi stopped being confusing eventually, probably around the moment Levi decided it wasn't going to be confusing (because Black's could make things real with just the power of their minds; obviously). Levi must have decided they were going to be good friends—and that's it—and it made it real.

Francine wasn't sorry.

She still found herself attracted to him sometimes, but then he was an attractive guy. Still too muscular—she was so tired of big and tall muscular men—but undeniably charismatic, so charming and full of life that it wasn't until you saw photographs that you realized his nose could be a little straighter, his eyes a little more even. She'd still sleep with him, if only to see if it was as good as advertised. But she wasn't sorry he decided sex was off the table, either.

If she had to write another college essay, 'What Imprinting Mean to Me,' hers would have been a hell of a lot shorter than anyone else's, she thought. Dinah would write pages and pages and still miss the point—she was in love with Bert—and Ginger would refuse to write anything, but afterwards she'd have jumbled paragraphs about having someone who loved you no matter what, having someone who took care of you, having someone who's accepted you no matter how many times you screwed up and how that meant the world to her. Marlena would have written flowery poetic bits about true love and prince charming and happily ever after.

Francine wouldn't need pages.

Levi Black was her imprint. At the end of the day, all that meant that when she went home, and she went home when she could, no one in La Push questioned what she said. Imprinting meant she had power. And whether she liked the implications of that or not (she didn't, for the record, but at least it wasn't because of who she was fucking) it was just the way things were.

People around La Push—everyone around La Push—listened to her because Levi listened to her.

The only bad thing about imprinting, really, was that Levi thought she had to listen to him in return.

* * *

><p>When she picks up the phone, Levi doesn't bother with a greeting. He just says: "So, you're in love with Will."<p>

What in the world is she supposed to say to that?

"Excuse me?"

"You're being so goddamn stupid about it," Levi continues like she hasn't said a word, "Instead of just telling him, you sleep with him?"

"Who I sleep with is none of your business," she informs him as calmly as she can while wanting to strangle him. Her voice is even; she's very good at staying calm. She's thinking of different ways to ruin his life as she speaks, though; she's not as good a person as she pretends to be.

"You're pack."

"You have no right to be jealous."

"Oh, please," he snaps. "You're gravity, blah, blah—you keep hurting him and I'll kill you."

She's never heard him sound quite that serious.

"You're out of line, Levi." She sounds like the ice queen Donavan called her. She's glad. "You have no right to— I'm hanging up on you now. Don't call me back."

He listens in this. Her hands don't stop shaking for hours. She ends up going for a walk because she can't breathe in her apartment.

Francine is a romantic—she swoons at the end of sappy movies and can't stop smiling when her brothers talk about their significant others (even when its Ginger Walker, which she still doesn't understand but the girl makes him happy, so Francine tries to be happy for both of them)—but that has always been tempered by the fact she likes to think of herself as a smart woman. Romance is all well and good but even as a teenager, when he'd been absolutely gorgeous and fairly obviously in love with her (in lust with her—whatever it was to him, then) every other month she'd known that it would be idiotic to fall in love with Will Lahote.

People change, but only so much; some people break before they bend. Will's going to be the same as he'd always been, no matter how many grand romantic gestures he makes (not that she can see him making a grand romantic gesture—he'd think it was a waste of money because Will is the cheapest human being on the planet). And if he isn't like he used to be, he isn't but she's not always sure she trusts that he isn't, if he has changed—well, who's to say he can't just change back?

So she goes home and takes a long shower and once she's finished she goes to sleep. And the next morning she goes to work and when she goes home she waits for Will to come over because they have plans to eat dinner together and an upsetting phone call from Levi isn't going to ruin everything they've managed to build together after all these years.

Will's coming over for dinner at six. He's running to Seattle on four legs and then going shopping for groceries, so it's only when the clock reaches seven that she picks up the phone and tries to call him. When all she gets is voice mail, she calls Brian. When she can't reach her brother, she gets frantic—Dinah answers, tells her not to worry, the wolves are just busy, but she'll have someone call her back when they're finished.

It's eight before Brian calls her back.

"Sorry it took me so long."

"Is everyone all right?" she asks. That's what she has to ask, because their lives are like that. And when Brian pauses before answering, her mind goes to terrible places because those terrible things could very well happen.

"Bert tried to kick Levi's ass. It was…it didn't go so well."

"What? Why?"

"My best guess? Will knows he can't take Levi in a fight. I think Bert was afraid he'd go after Kara instead, so Bert jumped Levi before anything could happen. This way everyone just slugged it out."

"Do I want to know? Or do I already know?"

"You already know." When she had no idea what to say to that, Brian says, "Levi's been convinced your just friends thing was…well, between Will and I, we managed to keep him minding his own business for the most part. But he can't not get involved when you—Francy, what were you thinking?"

"That we could be mature about this. Will was fine with it."

"That's one interpretation of events," Brian offers her.

"I'm not a mind-reader. If he's uncomfortable with things he can tell me himself."

"I told you not to take him to that—you're right. He should talk to you. You want me to tell him to come over?"

"What?"

"Will needs to not be in La Push right now," Brian says frankly. "And I figure the two of you need to talk."

"Because Levi said so?"

"Francy. The two of you need to talk. I love you," Brian says. "No matter what. You know that, right?"

"You say that."

"I mean it," Brian insists. So she ends up agreeing. Send him over. She'll put him up for the night. They'll be fine.

When she hangs up on Brian, she goes and shaves her legs. She shaves everything, feels like an idiot, and forces herself out of the shower. She throws on the first clothes she finds—then she takes them off and starts doing her hair in long loose waves that she knows looks good on her. Picking out her clothes (spending hours picking out her clothes) at least distracts her from the waiting.

She still spends an hour in front of the television, waiting, before there's a knock on the door. It occurs to her, as she goes to open it, that she hasn't had anything to eat since lunch. It's making her lightheaded.

Will's flushed from his run, clothes even more disarrayed than usual (he's usually more careful about the way he looks; she doesn't know if she taught him or if he taught her, but she knows you have to use whatever you have, so they do). His eyes are bright and she can tell he's angry, not only from the way he's shaking or the way he's flushed, but the way he won't come in until she moves far away from the door.

"I heard there was a fight," she says as neutrally as she can.

He doesn't even start pacing, just puts a lot of distance between them. "I shouldn't be here."

"Go take a cold shower. We'll talk afterwards."

From the way he closes his eyes, from the deep breaths, she knows he's doing his best to stay calm. It won't work for long, though, which is probably why he nods.

"Are you hungry?"

"Starved," he admits. His eyes are still closed.

"I'll start dinner then." It's ten, but she doesn't care and he doesn't say anything as he flees the room. What to eat? Pasta? It's too easy to make. She wants something impossible, something that requires concentration.

By the time Will's out of the shower, shirt on properly, she's just put the meat into the oven. When she turns around and he's standing by the island, she has no idea what to say. Fortunately, he's calm. Calm for Will, anyway.

"I hope no one was hurt," she says.

"We heal fast. I have no idea what gets into that kid sometimes. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." Francine wishes she wasn't blushing. She wishes—she doesn't know what she wishes. She's pretty sure she knows what she wants though. "Do you want to start making the salad?"

He nods and goes to the fridge and she starts washing some of the bowls in the sink just to have something to do. They worked together in silence well. Nothing should change that.

"You didn't have to get so angry with him." Silence, she realizes, is dangerous for all the possibilities that it allows.

"I get angry at everything." He's still tense, which is more dangerous than the silence because silence doesn't have claws that could take off her head.

"We're working on a new case at work."

And he listens while she talks. She's not Tim, words aren't in her blood, but she isn't like Baxter and Tom, either, where she's more comfortable with silence. She likes telling him about her day.

They're half way through dinner before he relaxes, though she's not sure if that's because he's no longer angry or just no longer afraid he's going to hurt her. The difference is noticeable, though. He smiles more, even if his jokes are still as black as he can make them. He starts eating more, too, which is a sure sign everything is all right again.

He even insists on doing the dishes, so she stays at the table, watching him as he moves easily through her kitchen, putting away the plates, cleaning the pots, washing down the counter. He knows where everything goes and how she likes things done. Well, he should. He's watched her do it often enough.

He catches her eye. "You want to watch a movie?"

It's the best idea he's had in ages, so she stands up to go find something they'd like. There's so much to pick from but they settle on an old favourite, something she knows neither one of them pay much attention to they've seen it so many times. He's warm against her side and she knows she could easily fall asleep if she just closed her eyes. For all that he's made of muscle now, Will has a surprisingly soft shoulder. That, or he's very careful that her head rests in just the right spot.

"I don't even know what he's thinking sometimes," Will mutters half way through the movie, when he's finally calmer. Halfway to sleep—she shouldn't have eaten so much that late at night—Fran only says, "What?"

"Levi. I don't get what he wants from me," Will admits. "Or you, but mostly me."

It would be too exhausting to sit up; besides, she's comfortable under his arm. All she does is glance up through her lashes. "I think he just wants you to be happy." And to admit he's grown up. Isn't that what everyone wants, really? Doesn't she want her mother alive and smiling at her? Doesn't she hate it when her father looks disappointed?

"But what did he expect to happen?"

His eyes are very dark as he gazes down at her. He's always had dark eyes—physically, it's the eyes and the lips and the jaws that make it obvious that he and Levi are related. Of course, it was always more than that, the way they moved together, the way they knew each other, the way they work better together than they do apart.

"I think you were supposed to declare your undying love in return and we would make love underneath a very scenic sunset," she manages to say. At her mother's funeral, she managed to greet every single person who came, because no one else in her family would have. She is very good at speaking when she just wants to curl into a little ball.

"Cue flying doves, cue orchestra?"

"And maybe some confetti too. And fireworks, I guess; you were pretty good the other night."

"You're too kind. I thought the sun was setting?"

"First there's a montage and then there's fireworks."

"Obviously. And cue credits?"

"Have to finish before you go back to La Push," she agrees. "I know how much you hate staying here too long."

"I'm a werewolf," he explains in a tone that she thinks is supposed to frighten her, but it's hard to be frightened when he smells like the mango soap she keeps in the shower and yet still somehow smells like _him_, when his fingers are playing with her hair. "I can't live in a city."

"And it'll be at least another few years before you can stop phasing."

"More like ten."

"You think it'll take you _that_ long?"

"Brian should have been able to do it. He waited longer than some of Jacob's old pack did and when he's not around me he's pretty damn calm. He should have been able—but your brothers haven't phased, so maybe something isn't coming. I don't know. We're just guessing. It's all we ever seem to do."

"So maybe more than five years or maybe less," she says. "Either way, you're missing out; the city is wonderful." She loves her city, her smelly, loud, busy city where not everyone knows who she is and who her parents are, where no one pays her any attention at all, where she can just go about her day and not have to worry about anyone demanding anything from her. She could never go back to La Push.

"You have a pretty great life here."

"I do." She likes it when she can share it with him. "Brian said…"

"Can we just never listen to other people?" he begs her.

"If you're not comfortable or…whatever. You don't even have to explain. If you don't want to, we won't sleep together again. Just…tell me what you want. Okay?"

"Why did you agree in the first place?" he asks.

"You were the one who propositioned me."

"The point of arm candy is to get laid, I've always thought."

"What?"

"Nothing," he says. He even shakes his head, like she should just let the thoughts disappeared into the ether. "I hate crowds."

"Do you know how often I've been walked around a room like a prize bitch at a dog show? I never meant—you were there as my friend, not—"

"I know," he says. But what Will knows and what Will feels have always been two irreconcilable things.

"But you slept with me to prove some point to yourself about how I was using you?"

"No. That wasn't—that's not it." He gets up to start pacing and she should probably recommend he take another shower, but she's afraid if they stop now he'll never explain. "I didn't think about it. I just said it and then you agreed so I didn't—if you're using me, Fran, it's only fair because I—I can't lose you. Whatever happens…you have to know that."

And his words hit far too close to something she won't let herself examine. Maybe too much of that shows on her face because he starts staring in a way that makes her feel more exposed than she did naked and underneath him.

"We should sleep. You're still angry and I'm tired. It's probably better if we don't…"

"I was going to sleep on the couch anyway," he tells her. When she opens her mouth to protest he says, "I'm not tired tonight."

"William, you have to sleep some time."

"What's one more bad habit?" he asks her, going to turn off the movie. She watches him for a moment, then realizes the time to escape is at hand. So she leaves.

* * *

><p>"I don't know why you're excited," Francine had said, sitting on the floor of Marlena's bedroom, watching her friend search through her closet. "It's going to be the same as last year. And the year before."<p>

And Marlena Call, sweet, beautiful, vibrantly _alive_ Marlena, had smirked. "Maybe they'll go streaking again this year."

"I do not want to see our fathers naked, thank you very much."

"My father's ass is chiselled out of rock, okay? It's perfect."

"Sweetie, that's weird."

Marlena laughed. She was always laughing. "Yeah, yeah. No oogling my father. Just yours."

It made Francine laugh, too, even though it was going to be the first time they'd celebrate her father's birthday without her mother. She was trying not to think about that, but it wasn't working very well; Marlena could tell, too, because she said, "I've always wanted to lick your dad's abs."

"Please, don't. I'm begging you."

"Well, since you asked so nicely...you know who's coming this year?"

"Do I know if you should put effort into your outfit?" Marlena just grinned, not caring she'd been found out. She was always found it; that's what happened when you were obvious about everything. "Danny's coming."

"I'm not mature enough to handle dating a guy who's younger than me," Marlena informed her easily.

"That doesn't make sense."

"It makes total sense. He's really the best we've got?"

"There's my brothers."

"These things were much more fun when your brothers weren't dating anyone." Marlena pretended to pout. "You think Di would let me keep my tongue if I talked to your brother?"

"I wouldn't bank on it."

"Thought so. Levi's not coming?"

Francine did not raise her eyebrows. "I don't think so. Would he be fun?" Plenty fun, from what she'd heard.

Marlena threw a pillow at her. "Don't be stupid. I can't date Levi Black until he learns to tie his shoelaces by himself."

It actually took Francine a second to understand. "Did you just use a metaphor?"

"Told you I'm wicked smart." Marlena burst into laughter and dropped down beside her. "You like how I'm pretending I know what you're talking about, right?"

"By shoelaces you meant long dark hair, perpetual scowl—"

"Stick up his ass? Yeah. We can date Levi when he loses the babysitter."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Is Will coming?"

It was Francine's turn to burst out laughing. "He never comes. And weren't we never dating—"

"First off, you gotta pay closer attention. That was why we can't date Levi, not why we can't date Will. Will is his own reason we can't date Will. I was just…it's nice having nice scenery. That's all."

"I'll beg him to come just so you can oogle him." Not that it would work; Francine couldn't have said the last time Will had come to any party they'd had. Well, that wasn't true. He'd come for the funeral. The whole town had come for the funeral. She was trying to forget that too.

"He might do it if you ask him."

"Oh, please. He hates me."

"Yes, but he hates you with the fire of a thousand suns, instead of the universal to the power of infinity times a billion plus one fiery passion with which he hates the rest of us. It's your legs."

Francine giggled, though she knew he liked her legs. That had been one of those facts she'd always seemed to have known.

"Not that he'd do anything about it." Which was another one of those things she'd always seemed to have known.

"Well, of course not," Marlena said. "He can't go with you. You're taller than he is."

"_Lena_." She laughed and then felt strangely guilty because honestly there were so many things people should criticize him for—and they picked the one thing he had no control over. "He's taller than you are."

" 'Cuz I'm short. You don't need to defend him. It's not like you'd ever date him, either."

"Because Will is his own reason…" she mocked. She shouldn't have. Marlena had always been much smarter than anyone gave her credit for.

"And he's prettier than you are."

"He is not," Francine said firmly. Not defensively, because it wasn't true enough for her to be defensive about it. "He—I—" He totally was.

"I think you're really pretty. I mean, you're not Dinah Black pretty where all I can think about is making out with you when I see you, but you're as pretty as I am." No, she wasn't. She could make herself look as pretty as Marlena was, with some make up and a lot of time, but she wasn't. It wasn't even the impossibly happy glow Lena just had, either; she didn't have long lashes, or big eyes; she did have better skin. Good skin was important. "It's just that he's _really_ pretty. And you'd never, ever, ever date a guy who's better looking than you are."

"Poor Will," Francine pretended to sigh.

"Of course, if he looked different, we probably wouldn't still be speaking to him in the first place," Marlena mused. "Well, at least Max'll be there."

"Yeah, this year he's exactly twice your age. It's so romantic."

"Shut up."

"What does poor Rick think about your window shopping?" Francine asked.

"He's cool." Marlena's head was heavy against her shoulder. "I really like him, Fran. Maybe love him, in a way. He's a good guy. And the guitar thing is super hot. It's just—it's not like Mom and Dad. You know?"

Francine knew.

* * *

><p>When she gets out of bed, she's exhausted. She hasn't slept. Levi's words echo in her head, alongside everything she wants and everything she doesn't want—the fact that they are the same thing means she hasn't slept at all. Her eyes are just a little bit red and she spends more time in the washroom than she should before she wraps a robe around herself and steps into the kitchen.<p>

Will is standing over the stovetop, cooking eggs. There's fruit cut up for her, but he's focusing on the omelette. He glances back and gives her a smile but turns back to his food. She takes a piece of pineapple and pops it into her mouth as she comes to the island, just watching him. When he comes with a plate full of eggs he offers them to her first—she hands him a fork and waves at him to go ahead. The material from her robe must be brushing against him because she can feel the heat of him against her. He wraps an arm around her waist and she's surprised when he kisses her good morning (just a light brush of his lips that shouldn't make her shiver).

"You never did say why you agreed," he says as he releases her. "Why you brought me home that night."

"I didn't really think all that much either."

"Why aren't you more angry with him?"

"With who?"

"Levi."

"You seem angry enough for both of us."

"He doesn't like women who treat me—I'm not angry. But if someone decided to tell me how I felt, I'd do more than hang up on them."

She shrugs. "You want something to drink?"

When she moves to the fridge to get the orange juice, she is acutely aware of his eyes on her. When she glances back, he's frowning as he says, "My cousin has always seen what he wants to see."

"Just like you."

"Maybe," he admits. "I've never thought you—but then, I've always turned into an idiot around you. Is Levi right?"

"About what?"

There's a second where she believes he won't say anything, that he'll turn and go back to his food and they'll have breakfast together and in a few days he'll come to dinner and maybe they'll fall into bed together after that—and she can admit those moments taste of disappointment. But it's worse when he says:

"Are you...in love with me?"

He doesn't have to sound quite so skeptical.

"Love is a very strong word," she blurts out. Oh, yes, love is far, far too strong a word. Love is her father's empty eyes and her mother's tired smiles and love is standing on stage and ignoring the stares and the eager hands because there's a paycheque waiting for you that will make sure your brothers have a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. "Levi always likes things that are too strong. Love is—I mean, I'm attracted to you. I think we've established that I don't find you physically unappealing. You're not quite as handsome as you were before but I still, I like the way you look. I've always liked it and…"

"Fran."

"What?"

"I don't think I've ever seen you so incoherent."

"I didn't sleep well last night."

"A yes or a no would suffice."

"What does it matter?"

"What does it—it _matters_," he snarls.

"It shouldn't," she says, a bit like a prayer. "You're still in love with Marlena."

And the silence that descends over them after that is _terrible._ He's utterly still, the way he never is, the way he wasn't even before being a werewolf, the way that frightens her because it is so unlike him.

"Of course I'm still in love with Marlena," he says gruffly. "I'm always going to be in love with Marlena. She's everything, she's more than that—but she's not the one I need to talk to at the end of the day. Or at the beginning of the day. Or at any point in the middle when I need someone to tell me I'm being an idiot—or that I'm not being an idiot. She's not the one I think about, constantly, and she's not the one who makes me eat her pizza crust and always finishes _my_ crosswords and—

"I love her, I'm always going to love her and I know that's not—Fran, I love her, but she's dead. She's dead and she's not coming back. So it matters. You matter," he says and she can't seem to look away from his face. He's beautiful, he's always been beautiful, but it's never hurt not to reach out and touch him, not to kiss the lids above those long eyelashes, not to press her lips against the full red lips that are saying...she's wishes he hadn't said what it is he's saying.

"That all would have been pretty romantic if you hadn't sounded so annoyed the whole time."

Will bursts out laughing, but he stops soon enough. It's not fair that he's standing so close and it's not fair that he just keeps looking at her like that. "Fran, I think you're wonderful." The sincerity in his voice makes her blush. "You looked happy the other night and I wanted you because I'm in love with you and if that was the only way I could have you then, well. I make terrible plans when I just make things up as I go along. And I think maybe it's your turn to talk now."

All she can do is shake her head.

"Well," he says, "You have always been a bit of a coward."

"I prefer sensible," she manages to choke out.

"I'm sure you do."

"What is it you want to hear?" If he'd just step back she could tell him whatever was necessary for them to get out of this. But he's closer than ever and she can't _think_.

"I think a little bit of the truth shouldn't be out of the question."

"The truth about what?"

"You could start with why you slept with me."

"Because you were there," she snaps. "It had been a while and you're attractive and you were there. You've…you've always been there. Always…you've become my friend and I—you fit, because you want to, you make yourself fit the way no one else wanted to even try and I...I don't know what I would have done without you. I like having you around. More than like—I—"

This time when he says her name she just closes her eyes and mutters, "Love is...love is a bit much but it's not...it's not totally wrong. Not right, but not..."

"You never thought I might like to know any of that?" he says, his breath warm on her skin. "I know I've done some pretty terrible things, but I tried to make up for them—"

"It's not that." She's made her peace with most of it and the rest...the rest she forgets, most of the time. She doesn't have to deal with the hurt, so she pretends it never existed. She'd be angry with him for that, but he's never asked her to do it, she just does it for him. She hates herself, a little, for that.

"If you want me, we'll figure the rest out." And she believes him; Will figures out everything, when he decides it's worth figuring out. The way his voice is soft and pleading makes her legs tremble.

"I can't—I can't," she says desperately. Her eyes fly open. Surely he understands this? "Please. Please don't. I can't do it again. Dad—I can't have that happen again."

All he does is wrap his arms around her and holds her until she stops shaking. He'd do anything for her, she's always known that, and if he can't promise anything now it's because some things you can't promise.

"I know I'm asking too much of you," he whispers in her ear. "I know I don't have the right. I know I could hurt you—But not like that, okay? I could never, ever forget you."

She nods and eventually he pulls back, presses their foreheads together.

"But if you want me to go," he offers awkwardly, "Or just have me forget this entire morning ever happened...I figure if you want to ignore me for months, years, I kind of deserve it."

"You're absolutely terrible at hiding your feelings," she reminds him. "And not as good at ignoring me as you'd like."

"Tell me what you want, Fran, and I'll do it. You have to know that, at least."

"I want you," she admits. It's so much easier to say than she ever imagined and it leaves her feeling light-headed. "I just.."

"Am acutely aware that it's probably going to bite you in the ass?"

"Don't be cute, Will."

"You know, it'll probably be years before I'm human again. That's a long time to wait."

He can't live in the city as a werewolf, they both know that. Not more for a few days at a time, so there's going to be a lot of long distance. But they wouldn't be the first couple she knows to live part of the week apart, because of work, and he can't stay phased forever. Waiting doesn't seem so bad all of a sudden. In some ways, she's been waiting for him her whole life—she spares a thought for Paul, then, wonders if he'll be even happier than they are when he finds out. Probably.

"You don't have to worry about me not knowing what a bad idea this is," she promises. "I'm very aware of that, thank you. But I figure if we don't try, at least once, we're never going to be able to move on. So…yeah."

"Yeah, we're going to do this?" he asks tentatively.

"If that's what you want."

Will bursts into laughter, not the harsh, barking kind that he favours sometimes, but real, honest to goodness, peals of laughter. "Yeah, I want this. You."

"Does it make me a horrible person," she asks, trying not to laugh with him, "That I find it comforting, that you seem absolutely terrified too?"

"Seem?" His hands are wrapped around her neck, but she feels safe. If anything, it tickles. "Last chance to change your mind. You deserve someone who can grow old with you."

"And you deserve someone who lives forever, but you try that and I'll claw her eyes out," she promises with a grin. "As long as you don't end up looking too much younger than me in the end."

"You're so horribly vain," he says as he rolls his eyes, but he sounds impossibly fond of her just then that she doesn't care. In fact, she starts to laugh, even as she brings her hands up to cup his face.

"What?" he asks. They're so wrapped together just then she's not sure how exactly they're pressed together, only that she feels so deliciously warm all over.

"Marlena said we could never be together." She takes a deep breath before she continues; she uses the pause to watch him. There's no grief, in his eyes. He misses her and maybe he wouldn't be standing in front of her if Marlena was still alive—but she's not. Francine isn't going to be jealous of a dead girl; not when he's gazing down at her like that. "She said we couldn't be together because I was taller than you."

When he laughs his whole body shakes; she can feel it everywhere. She strokes the back of his hair until he stops, looking down at her, brushing her hair off her face.

"I wouldn't have cared what size you were, if you didn't constantly show up to school in my old clothes."

"They were too small for Brian. And hand me downs save money."

"You should have bought new clothes."

"You're never going to say that again, are you? I should have recorded that."

"Cute. So we're only doing this because I'm taller than you now?"

"Not really," she admits. Of all the things that have changed (with him, with her, with them), the height difference isn't even in the top hundred. Besides, with the right pair of shoes she can still look him in the eye easily enough. "You are still prettier."

She still goes up on her toes to kiss him before he can protest (if he'd protest). He was right about one thing—she's a romantic. He was her first kiss; they might as well try to make him the last.


	40. Judy

It was a little disappointing that even as a wolf she couldn't wolf whistle.

Judy couldn't even normal whistle, let alone the two-tone sound that said quite clearly what you were thinking—'hey, sexy' and 'check you out' and a few other things that you probably shouldn't say out loud (if you weren't _sure_ you were alone). Baxter had tried to teach her a few times, but listening to him go on and on about 'put your lips together and blow' when she just _couldn't_ meant she got frustrated. And then since he was right there thinking she couldn't do anything right…well. The whistling lessons were good for something, but she never did learn how to do it.

So she had to settle for talking: "Hey, good looking."

Baxter didn't glance up from the computer screen. "I'm almost done."

"Have I ever mentioned how attractive you are, when you get all frowny at the computer?" she said as she came into the room. Sometimes Baxter would put on his responsible face and tell her to wait outside, and sometimes he would push the chair away from the desk so she could sit down on his lap, but today he just stared at the computer. He said, "I'm almost done here. I'll be out in a minute."

"Leave it," she said, running her fingers through his hair as she leaned against the desk. "I want to go home now."

"I'm not coming to work tomorrow."

The heavy feeling that had been in her belly all day returned, now that she wasn't distracted by how terribly good-looking her husband was. "You're definitely not going tomorrow," she agreed. "But that's why we should go home."

"This has to get done."

"Yeah, but…don't you think we should maybe do some last minute…_studying_, before tomorrow?"

"I don't think it works that way," he said stiffly.

"Won't hurt to try."

"Judy…"

Uh oh. It was his serious voice.

"I know," she promised. "Not getting my hopes up. I just want to do naughty things to you."

"When we get home," he promised. "I have to finish these and I'm not in the mood right now."

He wasn't in the mood a lot, lately—not that it stopped him, of course. Baxter always did his duty. He was getting worse and worse at hiding how that was all it was.

"Sure," she said. What else could she say? She sat down on the desk, kicking her legs, trying to pick the dirt out from under her nails (there was always dirt or oil or something under her nails, but she liked trying to fight against it). "Is this okay? If I stay?"

His dark eyes found hers and, silently, he told her he was sorry and she told him she understood and he still felt guilty but she did too so they just smiled at one another. She even ran her fingers through his hair again so he would know for double sure that it was okay. A small sigh escaped his lips and his hand ran along her thigh; he brushed his thumb across her hip bone, since her shirt had ridden up. He had his serious face on again. "Baxter? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Love you, that's all."

"Always and forever?" She didn't need to ask, but she liked hearing him answer.

"Always and forever. No matter what."

He meant the first part, too, but he put extra special emphasis on the last part, practically glared at her while he said it. She knew. She wasn't worried at all about disappointing him. Mostly. Baxter would say he didn't care and maybe even think he meant it. But she'd seen him with little Emma and even if he never said anything, she knew him inside and outside and the in-between sides that nobody else even looked for because they didn't even know they existed. He'd still love her, even if…but there would be that twinge of disappointment mixed up with it, just like the last time. He wouldn't love her less, just love her and something else.

"Me too," she agreed. "No matter what."

She let him get back to work after that, sitting there silently, mentally going over the day to make sure there wasn't a part she had forgotten to order or a bolt somewhere she had forgotten to screw on extra tightly. She didn't think she had, but the second you got cocky you started making mistakes her father said (about cars, at any rate), so Judy tried to make sure there was nothing she had forgotten. If her mind drifted to Nessie and the appointment the next day, well, she tried not to let it.

"We should go," Baxter said, startling her. "This is mostly done. Let's go home."

He helped her off the desk; she pretended to bite at his nose, for making her wait, and it made him smile. She'd already closed the rest of the garage so they just had to lock the office behind them before they headed out. It was Baxter who took her hand once she'd slipped the keys into her pocket.

"Wanna race back?" he offered. In ways that he wouldn't ever admit to, he was just as nervous as she was. The only other thing she'd ever wanted as badly was Baxter—and he'd been hers before she even figured out she wanted him. Now…

"Nah," she said, wrapping her arm in his. "You need to save your energy for when we get home."

"This isn't something you can cram for."

"So you don't want Super Judy to come and save you?"

Why, yes, she was using every trick in the book. Baxter had to admit: "I like it when Super Judy saves me."

Since she was partial to that herself—the red velvet cloak was super awesome, but so was Baxter's gratitude when he got saved—she smiled for both of them.

* * *

><p>As they lay in bed that night, curled together on top of the covers they never needed to use, she finally said it out loud: "What happens if I'm not pregnant?"<p>

"Then we keep trying," he said in his everyday calm voice. Only he was trying too hard; she could tell it wasn't an everyday thing, could tell he wasn't nearly as sure as he felt like he needed to pretend. "We've only been trying for six months. If you're not pregnant, it's not…we'll just keep trying."

"Mom only ever forgot to use protection four times. And once she was already pregnant with me."

How many times had she thought that in the past six months? It seemed to run around in her head on repeat. Mom didn't even need to try, not six months, not one month, not even more than once. Mom didn't need to try and if there was anyone who would know anything about being a wolf girl…

"She might have been exaggerating."

Since she had pulled that thought from her mother's mind and not her lips, Judy doubted it was an exaggeration. Or maybe it was. Still didn't change the fact that they had been trying for six months and…well, maybe she was already pregnant. It was hard to tell; she never had a period, their hormone levels so messed up Nessie still seemed doubtful that her mother could have children even though, well, there were the three of them. Magic, Uncle Seth said—they weren't just extra chromosomes and hormones, they were of La Push. He said not to worry, that it would happen when it was meant to happen.

But what if it wasn't meant to happen?

She couldn't be sad like last time, she knew. Baxter had been wonderful, of course; he was always wonderful. But she had been so sad last time Nessie had checked her over and said it wasn't working even though she was supposed to be a super special breeding machine and what if this was a sign that she wasn't supposed to be with Baxter and how was that even possible when she needed him so, so, so much but why didn't they already have a baby when Mom didn't even need to try? Thinking all that it was _so hard_ to go to work the next day. Baxter had stayed with her until Daddy had told her he needed her—a particularly persnickety Pinto had been brought to the shop and he needed her help. She'd fixed the car, but the whole time all she could think was that it wasn't as good as a baby, it didn't have baby soft skin or baby smell or tiny baby fingers…

"Hey, Jelly Bug, don't cry," Baxter begged as he wrapped his arms around her. "We don't even know that you're not…"

"I've been all weepy lately," she admitted. She hadn't told him, didn't want him to think…some days were bad days and she cried at everything. It didn't mean…but she wanted it to mean something, so, so badly. "Do you think…?"

"We'll find out tomorrow," Baxter said after a minute, after he decided that one of them had to remember not to get their hope's up. She loved him so much just then, for being the one. Loved him so, so much.

"You're going to be such a good daddy," she said as she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his neck. He would be a wonderful father—he'd spend time with their kids and teach them all sorts of cool things and more than that he'd just be there, being wonderful and sweet and slightly stern and so, so loving. And they would have such cute kids…

"Don't call me that," he said gruffly. Baxter's eyes dropped to her lips; maybe she licked them, just a little. Then she might have barred her teeth, a challenge he couldn't help but answer. It wouldn't hurt to sneak another round in before…

* * *

><p>They could have run to Nessie's house the next day, but Baxter didn't like it when they showed up to someone's house without any clothes on, so they took the car (he drove; the last time she'd driven to the appointment, but she'd been so nervous she'd torn the steering wheel in half). Judy was not-so-secretly glad they were human just then. Being a werewolf was the best, obviously, but just then she didn't want her brothers in her head. She didn't even want Baxter in her head. She would try to be like Baxter, she would try her best to be calm and keep her chin up if it didn't work, but she didn't think it would be enough. Not when she didn't have a sweet little baby to love.<p>

Nessie poked and prodded her and then disappeared with her blood to do whatever it was that had to be done. Judy sat on the examination table, kicking her legs, trying not to think. Baxter was trying not to pace; his body was practically humming from the energy of not moving. That wouldn't be safe for Nessie.

"Come here," she said. When she tugged at his hand, he came, standing between her legs. She brought her hands up to cup his face. "I love you so much. I love you infinite."

"I love you more," Baxter said, burying his head into her shoulder. It tickled, the stubble of his cheeks against her neck, but she didn't move, just wrapped her arms around him. They would be okay. Whatever Nessie said, they would be okay. But it wouldn't stop the wanting. Nothing would stop that except a little baby with his eyes. Or her eyes. Or any eyes, really. If there was a baby out there without eyes that wanted to be loved, they'd take that too. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" she asked.

"You wouldn't have phased if you couldn't have kids—"

"Don't." She growled. "Just don't. She said six months was normal."

"We're not normal."

"So nobody has any idea what's normal for us. Maybe Mom was the weird one."

"Maybe it's because they didn't wait so long after they phased."

"Which was _our_ decision. We're a team—and, yes, I usually make you say all the not-fun important serious stuff, but that doesn't mean I couldn't disagree with you if I disagreed with you. We waited. It was the smart thing to do. You need me at the garage. You can barely do an oil change."

"Ouch," he said. It was a lie, but it was a lie that made him smile, a little, so it was worth it. "I feel really appreciated right now."

"Maybe I'll let you change a set of tires—"

But they could hear Nessie's footsteps coming back towards them and they both froze. Baxter released her and stood off to the side, standing guard. 'Love you' she mouthed and he mouthed it back and grabbed her hand as they waited for Nessie to come through the door.

Nessie was smiling.

Judy tried very, very hard to stay still so Nessie could actually say the words (she must have known a blank face would have made them panic, because Nessie had a blank face the last time, when she came into the room and said, despite everyone's predictions that they wouldn't even need to try, that it hadn't worked at all). "Congratulations."

She was giggling; they were going to have a baby. Baxter's mouth was on hers suddenly, so hot and firm she stopped laughing, got lost in the feel of him so strong against her.

"If I may," Nessie muttered. Baxter was bright red as he pulled away and Judy couldn't breathe, but it didn't matter. They were going to have a baby. Nessie was still smiling, but it was smaller now, and Judy tried to pay attention. "I'm going to start with what you can expect for the next little while and we can start planning how I'm going to help, okay?"

They listened—or Baxter listened and took notes and she tried, tried so very hard to pay attention when all she wanted to do was laugh and sing and jump around the room. There was so much joy in her just then that she wanted to fly (she could fly, if Nessie would just let them leave). But there was important stuff to pay attention to, so she did her best. The list of symptoms didn't sound fun, but what did it matter?

"I know you have to tell the pack, but I would caution you not to tell the whole world just yet. While theoretically you should take after your mother, if you weren't a wolf I would tell you miscarriages aren't uncommon. You might want to wait until you've reached three months before you tell everyone."

There was her flat doctor voice mixed up with the sadness for all the little babies that never got to be—and just then Judy wondered if maybe her uncle had been wrong even though Seth rarely was when it came to people. Nessie didn't sound like she'd never forgive them for not coming to Dr. Cullen when they needed a baby doctor, she just sounded like she wished she could sit down for a little bit.

"You think you can keep a secret?" Baxter asked her.

Judy said, "If we tell the pack, they're going to tell their imprints, Ginger'll tell your brothers and Kara still tells Kim everything. Dad'll be really sad if I don't tell him right away. I think even Mom would get pouty. And that means we have to tell your dad—oh, and Grandma Sue, too, and maybe Charlie, while we're at it and—who else?"

"We're just going to tell half the town," Baxter promised Nessie.

"I figured." Judy suspected that Nessie was laughing at them, on the inside. At least that meant she wasn't sad anymore. "Good luck."

* * *

><p>They told the pack in person; it was the politer way to do things, instead of just dumping it in someone's head. The pack reacted the way they thought they would. Levi picked her off the ground and tossed her into the air (mostly so Baxter would growl) telling her they had to name their baby after him—boy or girl. Then he tried to work out if Leva was a name or not and if Levia would work as an alternate and if Levi was an okay name for a girl in the first place. Brian beamed, bragging that Ester would beat them and not so secretly planning for their children to grow up being bestest friends forever. Will asked what the doctor said, even before the congratulations, and she kissed his cheek and reminded him Baxter would look after her. Bert smiled a small smile, nodding his agreement with the others, but they walked him home, just the three of them, listening to Baxter talk about the medical stuff and Bert offered to come with her on a garage sale hunting trip throughout the state to try to find stuff for the baby's room.<p>

Bert invited them inside and they went because Dinah would get the news out of him if they didn't tell her just then and Judy wanted to be the one to tell her. Dinah and Mom would never say it, but it was like they'd heard a dream, once, about what it should be like between them, and they felt guilty that they weren't like that at all. Which seemed kind of silly to Judy because she liked them better than any dream.

"Congrats, kiddo," Dinah said. Judy hoped if she had a daughter, she'd look like Dinah, glossy hair and full smile and head held high (always and no matter what).

"Levi's already offered to babysit," Bert said as he went to the fridge to hunt down something more to eat.

"Please," Dinah said. "You come to us. Levi will let your kid eat glue; he'll eat glue with the kid. We are much more reliable."

"Brian offered, too," Baxter said. He and Brian had forgiven (not forgotten; it was not in Baxter to forget) whatever bad blood was between them once upon a time. They were brothers. Uleys. Always had been and always would be. But there was no one on the reservation Baxter would rather leave their child with than Dinah. Still, he teased.

"They'll have the new baby to worry about. And Emma. And—well, Ginger isn't a bad babysitter, but I'm better."

"Ester says Ginger's a great babysitter," Bert said. Dinah rolled her eyes so he added, "But I hear you're okay, too."

"The bestest," Judy promised because she wanted her baby to have the best babysitters around and since Ester had first dibs on Ginger, it was best to get on Dinah's good side now.

Later, when the boys were off playing video games (not that she was competitive, but Judy didn't like it that Bert AND Dinah were both better than her now; she was glad when her sister decided they should just stay and talk) Dinah got her special cookies that Bert was pretending he couldn't sniff out.

"You look happy," Dinah said as Judy munched.

"I am," she admitted, hands rubbing the flat plane of her stomach. "So, so, so happy."

"Good," Dinah said. Dinah hadn't liked it, the last time, when there hadn't been a baby and she'd gotten all sad. Dinah hated when people were sad; it made everything hurt inside her.

"You don't think—never mind."

"What?"

"I just…I know you said it was too soon. For kids."

"For me," Dinah said firmly. Only when it was necessary did Dinah do soft (most people didn't think she could, Judy had realized at one point, but most people were silly. Dinah didn't like it, but she could be as gentle as baby blanket, if she had to be, because Dinah could do anything if she wanted).

"I'm younger."

"And a different person. In a different place."

"We're both in your kitchen."

It made Dinah smile. "Okay. But as long as you want this, then I'm happy for you."

Judy was being silly herself. It was the like the wedding—Dinah hadn't exactly approved, had thought she was a little too young, had said maybe it wasn't the best idea to marry your first serious boyfriend, but Dinah had been so, so happy for her the day of the wedding. All her sister wanted was for her to be happy.

"Do you think…you think I'll be a good mom?"

"Of course."

"You really, really think?"

"Yeah." There it was, the soft voice that was even more demanding than the hard one. When she got all quiet you had to listen extra hard. "You've got so much love to give, the two of you. I think you'll be wonderful."

* * *

><p>They couldn't tell everyone themselves, unfortunately, but when people found out they passed on their congratulations. It was so lovely, having everyone smiling and being happy. And she was grateful, grateful for the advice and the quiet promises that she would have people watching over her. It was exhausting being that grateful all the time that everyone was being so wonderful and that was the reason she ended up at her parent's house, sitting on the couch with her Mom, hands running over the impossible to see bump that she never wanted to stop touching.<p>

She felt like a child again, her voice so tiny and lost, when she asked:

"What if I hurt my baby?"

Already she needed to protect her baby, her child, _hers_, but what if she was the monster? What if she was the creature under the bed, the thing that went bump in the night? Dinah wore a t-shirt even on the beach because there were scars all over her belly. There were scars on Baxter's leg, too, scars she kissed every time she saw them, but _scars_. She had made them bleed—her husband and her sister, two of the people she loved bestest in the entire world and she made them bleed. She hurt them so badly their bodies would never forget. What if she did _that_ to her baby?

"There will probably be times when you do," her mother said slowly. "You wouldn't believe how long it was before your father felt comfortable holding you all when you were just born. He could almost hold you in one hand and he was terrified…I was terrified. Your grandmother helped me a lot in those days. You were so small."

"You'll help?"

"Of course. You're father's already threatening to leave me so he can better spoil your kids." Mom kissed her forehead. "You can control your strength. You've been a wolf longer than we had before we had you guys. You've got that under control. You're…well, you're pretty good at managing your anger. And when you're not, you step away. Never, ever hesitate to do that if you even think you need to."

"Just leave the baby?"

"Call us and we'll come," Mom promised. "Always."

"But what if I hurt them?"

"I hate to tell you this, but that feeling's never going to go away," her mother admitted. Maybe most people got to worry about the metaphorically sort of hurt. For the first time, she thought being a werewolf was just a little bit unfair. When she said so, Mom agreed (just a little bit, mind you, just a tiny little bit that didn't mean they were complaining and definitely didn't mean they'd change anything about it, but just getting it out there, because if a girl couldn't tell her mother, who could she tell?)

Dad found them like that, curled on the couch. There had been a tiny bit of sadness in his eyes, when she told him about the baby. Just a little, itty bitty drop, mixed up with the happiness and the pride and the fear of what could go wrong and the excitement of something new happening, but it was there. Even though she was always going to be his baby, there had been a little bit of sadness because she wasn't really, anymore_._

"You okay, baby girl?" he asked, though he looked to Mom. Mom would let him know with the crook of her brow and thirty plus years together.

Judy nodded. Mom said, "She'd be a lot better if someone started the barbeque."

"I can do that," Dad promised. "We've got sausages."

"Yum," Judy agreed with a smile and let herself be the baby for just a small moment more.


	41. Ginger 2 of 2

Art left her because everyone left Ginger in the end. At least Art kissed her on the cheek and then buried his head in her neck. He'd gotten tall, over the years. The tallness was an Uley thing, too. Ginger wasn't a short girl; she was taller than Cookie, about as tall as Francine was without the shoes (not that anyone ever caught her without the shoes). They still fit together.

"You better call me all the fucking time," she told him through her tears.

Art promised.

* * *

><p>Two years after he left, Art came home. He'd gone to Seattle, at first; that was where he'd met the bassist who brought him to New York. She hadn't seen him since, but it was Christmas time and his family wanted him home. Francine called Ginger the day before his flight came in.<p>

"Did he tell you he's bringing a friend home?"

"No."

Ginger got on a bus and made it to Seattle in time to meet his plane. Art sounded happy when they talked, like he was in a good place, but there was being happy and there was being so happy it turned you dumb. If he brought someone home…she just wasn't sure that was going to end well.

When Art finally appeared, he for sure wasn't alone. Standing next to him, guitar case slung on his back, was another man, a mocha colour that made the two of them look good together. He wasn't gorgeous, but he was definitely doable and he had to be the sharpest dressed guy Ginger had seen in the airport since they got there.

Art went straight for his sister, but caught Ginger by the arm, drawing them into a three way hug. "I missed you guys," he sighed and Ginger told him, "You should visit more often then."

After they broke apart, the guy beside him stepped closer. He was giving her a slow once over, smile on his face as his eyes lingered on her chest.

"Who's this?" Ginger asked, more confused than pissed.

"Diego. My guitarist."

"Don't listen to him," Diego said with a laugh. "He's my drummer."

Diego also wasn't Art's boyfriend. Ginger felt a little disappointed, a little relieved, and then mostly just glad that Art wasn't dating such a tool. The guy came onto her for the first half of the trip, until Francine none too subtly mentioned that the Uley boys could kick ass (and Ginger was their girl).

It got worse when they got home and headed to the party at Levi Black's because Diego tried to pick up the Ateara sisters (even though they _definitely_ looked like they were in high school) and the only reason Quil didn't kill him right then and there was because Ben Lahote had been in love with Nina Ateara since he was thirteen and that was always funny because no one around town could get mad like the Lahotes (Bert swore he had nothing to do with it and if the guy had the balls to lie to Dinah Black, well, he deserved to get away with it).

Diego wasn't entirely useless—when she drove him out of town (they had to keep him safe, somehow), he was the one who told her about Officer Greg.

"Never seen a cop that big before—never seen a person that big before," Diego said as the three of them sat on the hood of Brian's car. "Till I came here, I guess."

"Is he bigger than Levi?"

"No one's bigger than Levi," Art said as he took the joint from her.

"He doesn't have bowling balls for biceps," Diego admitted, "But Officer Greg is built like a door. You don't want to run into that motherfucker."

"So how did you guys run into him?" she asked.

Art groaned and punched Diego; the guitarist looked a little guilty. "It wasn't my fault."

"It was all his fault," Art said. "He dragged me to this party I didn't want to go to and then when the cops came break to break it up _someone_ couldn't keep his damn mouth shut."

"We weren't doing anything," Diego said before he inhaled. "Anyway, Officer Greg's partner had him walk us to their car. Your boy is one smooth operator. Talked him out of arresting us—and got the guy to show up at our next gig."

"He likes our music," Art said with a stupid, goofy smile on his face.

"He likes it so much he does our laundry," Diego said. "Our music isn't that good."

Ginger cackled and grabbed Art's phone right out of his pocket—she needed a picture. "I can't believe you didn't tell me."

"I didn't want to jinx it."

"Shit," Ginger said. Art was over six feet—Officer Greg was taller and _a lot_ bigger. But he was a good looking guy; an inky black that didn't really photograph well on Art's crap phone (maybe if Art went someplace other than dimly lit clubs it wouldn't matter so much), but good looking in the pictures that actually came out. He had nice deep brown eyes that were looking at whoever was taking the picture fondly. Ginger liked him already. "He is built like a door."

"He won't let me play with his handcuffs," Diego pouted.

"He lets me," Art said with a grin.

As she laughed with the two guys, Ginger decided that Diego couldn't be that bad if he helped make Art happy.

* * *

><p>But the next day, when Levi and the wolves decided to take Diego hiking to punish him for the Ateara sister thing, Ginger didn't stop them. The guy wasn't that cute—besides, Art had called a family meeting.<p>

Just walking through the door, Ginger suspected. Sam wasn't there. Art asked Cookie and Judy to come; Francine and Judy both looked half-expectant. Judy's hand was already tight on Baxter's, willing him to react the right way. She was nervous, like Ginger was nervous, and the smile they shared only made it worse.

Ginger dropped onto the couch beside Tom. He kept his arm on the back of the couch, but he moved his hand to tug on her ear. She told him to grow up. On the couch beside them, Brian played with M&Ms, while Cookie fed KitKat. With a few well-placed elbows she got Tom to go get M&Ms for her. Brian needed to pay attention. Besides, her baby girl loved Ginger best.

"There's something I need to say to you all," Art said. He didn't look nervous, not the way Ginger felt nervous, anyway, where her heart was pounding and her stomach was churning and Tom started rubbing the back of her neck, trying to get her to relax. Uleys got nervous, but they also did what they had to do and right then—Ginger exhaled. Art had to do this.

He had cue cards. Or course he did.

The speech was long (and not just because it felt that way). Everyone just listened. It was a speech about duty and love and family, more than anything about family, how he'd cut out his own heart and eat it, as long as he could keep calling them family and if they didn't want him they might as well kill him then and there. It was kind of beautiful.

And then the speech was over and Baxter asked, "What?"

They all just look confused, even Judy who knew what was going on. Francine was giving him encouraging looks, get to the next part already, but Art looked down at his cards and Ginger wanted to laugh because he didn't have anything else. He left out the explanation and he was panicking now, at the inelegance of the moment he must have imagined a thousand times.

"He likes dick," Ginger explained.

Ginger didn't bother looking at the others. She just watched Art flush, just like he did all those years ago underneath her on the couch. But the flush faded, gave way to something hard in his eye that he hadn't been able to find back then.

"Yeah. That's about it," he said softly.

Beside her, Tom was still in his seat. When Art started looking to his brothers, Ginger did the same. The boys weren't moving—Judy stood up.

"Me too," she said with a grin. She hugged Art tightly, though it was hard for them to manoeuvre around her enormous belly; Judy bought her husband time.

Baxter stood up when she finished and if he was uncomfortable, if he wished he were someplace else, he was a pro at hiding it. "At least you didn't put it to music," he muttered, hugging his brother.

If one of the Uleys killed someone, Baxter would be okay with it. Ginger would take it.

Brian was next. Brian was probably the only one who was really okay with the whole thing; Brian was always a bit more flexible than his brothers who were some of the most stubborn guys Ginger knew (and Ginger knew a lot of guys). But Brian was surprised—he had no common sense, Brian; she loved him but he was as dumb as rocks—and he knew himself. Brian said stupid things when he was surprised. He took the minute, then stood up and followed Baxter. The two oldest brothers gave Art the family blessing.

The twins waited until their brothers were done (and until Ginger almost broke Tom's ribs, elbowing him to get up) before for Tim asked, "Does this mean Diego's your..."

"No. No way," Art promised. "I have better taste than that."

"Are you sure?" Baxter asked. From the horrified expression on Baxter's face, Baxter _so_ had just figured out the Levi thing.

"Yes."

"Good," Tim said before the twins hugged Art between them. Ginger looked over at Cookie, fussing with the girls. Brian's wife smiled at her. Ginger did good.

* * *

><p>Ginger wasn't totally surprised that Tim came running with them the next morning. She was disappointed, a little, because when they ran with Timmy they had to go a lot slower (Tom would never, ever consider just leaving him behind him or, god forbid, explaining that his brother lacked the cardio necessary to come with them), but mostly she just understood. The twins were Uley boys, which meant they were weird, but they were still boys and that meant they did their best talking while they couldn't look at each other.<p>

"I always thought he left because of a broken heart," Timothy Leary began. Timmy always began—and Tim spewed enough crazy theories that he usually managed to hit the truth occasionally. "But I didn't think a guy broke it."

Art hadn't left because of a broken heart, not really. Dan had left him before—taken off the way Art hadn't, just caught a ride with someone and only called his ex-boyfriend once every few months, which was way, way more than he called his family. Art had been killing time in La Push since puberty. You could become a wolf in La Push; being gay there was like being a vegetarian at a steakhouse (not only were pickings slim, everyone around you kept wondering why you weren't just leaving). Art was an Uley and that meant practical. He left.

Ginger explained that. Well, some of it. She didn't talk about Dan because that was Art's thing and she had promised. But she did explain the lack of options and the boredom and everyone knowing your business all the freaking time which would drive anyone nuts. She explained how it might be nice to be somewhere where where people didn't think they knew everything about you just because they once heard about your grandmother.

Or your mother. Or your sisters. Or knew a guy who once said you gave great head.

All of Washington wasn't big enough to give Ginger a fresh start. She told Brian she didn't need it; she was tough enough to take it. Letting other people win was not Ginger's strong suit. Or something she could handle. At all. But sometimes it would be nice not to have everyone know everything about all your stupid mistakes all the time.

Somewhere along the way they had picked up the pace. Maybe she was punishing them. They barely hit the forest when Timmy burst out, "Hold up, hold up," and then leaned against a tree, panting like he was going to die. They stopped. Tom muttered ideas for stretches. Tim didn't really care. "You knew this entire time?"

Ginger shrugged.

"You should have told us," Tim said. Tom didn't say anything, but Ginger knew when the twins were talking as one. "Arthur's our brother. You should have told us."

"Yeah. Please. He didn't need that. He needed me to shut up about his business. So I did. He's your brother and you love him no matter what, yadda, yadda, yadda—but you guys are idiots, sometimes. You'd have treated him differently. That was the last thing he wanted. So I'm not sorry I didn't tell you. I'm glad you pulled your shit together yesterday. He needed that. Now, are we going to run or what?"

Timmy got really pale and decided to head back, cutting through the trees at a hobbling walk. But his expression was thoughtful. She was right—they would have messed it up. They would have tried too hard and been too clueless—Timmy would have talked too much and Tom wouldn't have talked enough and they would have ended up hurting their brother just when he needed them not to.

This time, Tom was the one who picked up the pace.

Her legs were rubber by the time they reached his house. He'd always been better but the past year, now that she had graduated high school and had to get to work slightly earlier than he had to go to school, he'd improved even more. Her legs felt it; usually they tried to sprint the last mile together. Today, she would have stumbled up the steps if he hadn't helped her up.

"You pissed at me?" she managed to gasp out. Tom settled against the opposite end of the porch, leaning casually, long and thin and not breathing nearly as hard as she was; he studied her for a moment and that was familiar, that happened every time he needed to talk but still needed to work out how to do it without his brother around.

"I always thought you and Art…" Since he was flushed from the run it was hard to tell, but Ginger thought he might have been blushing. She hoped he was blushing at being that freaking stupid.

"Seriously? You're such an idiot. If I was into one of your brothers it would be Brian," she reminded him. "The whole imprinting thing. Duh."

"I thought we weren't allowed to bring that up."

"You're not because that's even stupider than me and Art and that's pretty freaking stupid. What part of ex did you miss?"

"The two of you were always cooped up in his room. And you always looked at him like…"

Ginger laughed; Tom was so ridiculous.

"Like he's the one friend I have who doesn't talk about me behind my back?"

"You have other friends." Uleys got pissy when you besmirched their honour (and they called it that, too, because Uleys were ridiculous). Ginger pushed down the urge to slap him.

"I'm ignoring you because you're being dumb."

"So are you."

"Shut up. There's no need to defend my honour; your very gay brother never led me on. Besides, I've known forever I don't deserve a freaking Uley, thank you very much, Lassie."

It worked like a charm. The time for simply socking her in the arm had passed, but he still tried to pull her hair. It was easy enough to hold him off. There was no on the planet she could picture hurting someone less, not the boy who always came to pick her up no matter how late she called or how fucked up she was, not when he had just sulked for a week when she told his girlfriend he had chlamydia and then just forgave her when she asked him to. It was part of the reason she liked him so much, that he could argue with her and push her around and yet never ever made her feel scared or small or like he might not be there to pick her right up if she went too far again.

She laughed and almost pushed him down the stairs.

"And I'm the idiot," Tom muttered, after he managed to regain his balance. Ginger just stuck out her tongue and waved him on his way. As if she and Art…boys were so stupid.


End file.
